Does anyone really spend a whole paycheck at Whole Foods Market?

I try to take advantage of sales at Whole Foods Market, such as the one I saw last Sunday on wild-caught Skate Wing Fillet at the Paramus store, but it's only one of the places I rely on when shopping for food in northern New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The opening of a new Whole Foods Market in Closter has renewed competitors' claims the organic supermarket is so expensive you have to blow your "whole paycheck" there.

That's nonsense -- unless you make minimum wage.

I've been shopping at Whole Foods Market in Paramus since it opened in March 2009, and though it's closest to my home, the supermarket is only one of the places I rely on.

Two competitors, ShopRite and Costco Wholesale, have greatly increased the number of organic items they sell, and both offer antibiotic-free meat and poultry.

Prices are among the lowest in the region on an admittedly limited selection.

Best seafood counter

But neither can match Whole Foods' variety of naturally raised meat and poultry nor the Paramus stores' sweeping fresh seafood counter, especially when fish or wild shrimp are on sale.

And Whole Foods' 365 Everday Value line offers Mexican-style salsas, imported organic whole wheat pasta, bottled pasta sauces and other items at competitive prices.

For example, a 1-pound box of Whole Foods' Organic Whole Wheat Shells from Italy is $1.49, a great price considering Trader Joe's and other stores don't offer that organic pasta shape, one of my favorites. 

ShopRite sells several shapes of Luigi Vitelli-brand organic whole wheat pasta in 1-pound packages for $1.29, but doesn't offer shells; Costco doesn't sell whole wheat pasta, organic or otherwise.

I buy organic sweet potatoes not at Whole Foods, but at Trader Joe's in Paramus, where a 3-pound bag is $4.49, compared to $5.99 at the ShopRite in the same town. 

Fresh haddock fillets from Iceland were only $8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro this week, but the warehouse store offers only a limited selection of wild-caught fish.

At Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood, a 1-pound package of Garofalo Whole Wheat Farfalle ($1.99), also called bow ties or butterflies, are not organic like the whole wheat pasta sold at Whole Foods Market for $1.49 a pound.

Costco Wholesale has finally closed the loophole on cage-free eggs by offering Kirkland Signature Cage-Free Egg Whites, above and below. A 16-ounce carton is about $1.50 when you buy six ($8.99). They can be frozen.

Costco's new Cage-Free 100% Liquid Egg Whites, left. When Costco switched to selling only cage-free whole eggs, the Egg Whites, right, were the only exception.

Also at Costco, Kirkland Signature Chicken Tortilla Soup is now made using poultry raised without antibiotics.

Stop & Shop ad

Stop & Shop has been running a TV ad touting its Nature's Promise line of organic or naturally raised products, and one of the shoppers shown makes the crack that "it doesn't take a whole paycheck," a clear reference to Whole Foods Market.

That upset one Stop & Shop customer, who called the comment "snarky" and "a cheap shot." 

She also pointed out Whole Foods' prices are comparable and occasionally lower than at Stop & Shop, and the selection is "astounding."

The Whole Foods in Paramus also sells wine -- with many bottles under $10 -- unlike the new store in Closter or virtually all of its other competitors in Bergen County.

Costco Wholesale in Teterboro sells organic brown eggs for about $3.50 a dozen when you buy 24 ($7.99).

O say can you taste the grass?

Image by Powerhouse Museum Collection via Flickr
Raising sheep on grass is common in Australia.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss grass-fed beef, lamb, milk, cheese and eggs, all of which are available in North Jersey.

The phrase "all natural" is thrown around with abandon, but there are no government or food industry standards to enforce it.


The best you can do is to look for meat and dairy products from animals that are treated humanely and raised on their natural diets -- free of antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts.


Chief among them are pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb sold at ShopRite supermarkets, Costco Wholesale and other stores.


Unfortunately, labels carry little information on how cattle and sheep are raised in Australia, but ShopRite sales fliers call the beef -- sold under the Nature's Reserve brand -- "All Natural, Free Range, Grass Fed."


I was told by Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd. (MLA) that Nature's Reserve beef comes exclusively from cattle that are fed grass from start to finish. They are never confined to a feed lot, but they do receive some growth hormones.


The racks and boneless legs of lamb sold under the Costco label, Kirkland Signature, or sold without that label, such as the lamb osso bucco I saw last week in the Hackensack warehouse store, are from sheep raised in the same way-- except they do not receive any growth hormones.


Originally, MLA told me no growth hormones were used in beef sold under the Nature's Reserve label, but later corrected that.


Cattle and sheep stomachs are designed to turn grass into protein. When cattle are fed grain -- as the vast majority in the United States are to speed growth -- they can become sick. 


And the wide use of animal antibiotics is making humans resistant to prescribed antibiotics.


Nature's Reserve steaks, roasts and whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon are sold at ShopRite for about $6.99 a pound and even less when they are on sale. 


The meat is lean and contains beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids. It cooks quicker than conventional beef and is best when prepared medium rare.


I once saw grass-fed steaks from New Jersey on sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for $9.98 a pound, and the Fairway Market across town sold grass-fed, rib-eye steaks for $14.99 a pound and grass-fed burgers for $5.99 a pound in June 2010.


On Saturday, Costco's prices for Australian grass-fed lamb were $5.99 a pound for the boneless leg, $7.99 a pound for loin chops and $13.99 a pound for racks.  


Before I stopped eating meat nearly two years ago, the small lamb chops in the rack were my favorite. I would trim the rack and cut it apart, broiling the chops only until they were rare. They would literally melt in my mouth.


Of course, you don't taste the grass. But the meat is so pure and flavorful, compared to conventionally raised lamb, it needs little more than a bit of salt.


The current price of $13.99 a pound for a rack of lamb chops at Costco compares to the price I recall from a couple of years ago, $9.99 a pound.


The Australian whole beef tenderloin was ideal for slicing thin, marinating with Korean barbecue sauce and cooking quickly on a stove-top grill before wrapping the beef in red-leaf lettuce with rice, kimchi and garlic at the table.


Grass-fed beef and lamb are among several products from pasture-raised animals available in North Jersey.


Fairway Market sells milk from grass-fed cows. Trader Joe's has sharp cheddar cheese made with milk from pasture-raised cows in New Zealand ($5.49 a pound).


On Friday, for $5, I picked up two dozen Grade A Large Brown Eggs "from grass-fed hens with freedom in the field" at H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Englewood. The yolks are a healthy shade of yellow.


They are distributed by Swiss Villa LLC in Lykens, Pa., with a label that tells you the package is made from recycled PET, fewer than 350 hens forage on a pesticide-free acre of pasture "spring to fall," and the eggs come from "Swiss-peasant-descendant, small-scale farmers."


"You would enjoy seeing the hens scatter out over the pasture meadow each morning as dew droplets mirror the rising sun," the label says. 


I'm sure I would, as long as I was served a breakfast of their eggs right away.


Here are Web sites to help you find grass-fed meat.


Australian Lamb


The site lists Costco Wholesale and Stop and Shop supermarkets as sources of Australian lamb. Some brands to look for are Country Meadow Austral American Lamb and Opal Valley.


Australian Beef


ShopRite and Pathmark supermarkets in North Jersey are listed as sources.


Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd.


Meat and Livestock Australia is a marketing, research and development  agency that represents ranchers, processors, exporters and others involved in meat production in Australia.


To take a virtual farm visit in Australia, click on this link: 


On a Farm Down Under

Perdue Farms can't shed scarlet letter

Image via Wikipedia

It takes a tough consumer to see through Perdue's claims.

Perdue Farms has a new TV ad campaign that tries to convince consumers its chickens are "better," but the spots are silent on its use of antibiotics to make them grow quickly and keep them healthy in crowded conditions.


I saw one of the ads this morning on the TV mounted on my exercise bicycle at the gym, and antibiotics were never mentioned. 


They earn Perdue the scarlet letter "A."


I once saw a PBS documentary that showed a chicken growing so big on antibiotics, it could not stand and constantly fell over in a crowded chicken house.


The ads claim Perdue gives its chicken an all-vegetarian feed, with no added animal by-products, and never administers "steroids or hormones."


But the government bars the use of steroids and hormones, so that claim is meaningless.


Here is a story in the Huffington Post on the new campaign.


Perdue tries to improve perception of chicken


Most supermarkets, including ShopRite and Stop & Shop, carry fresh chicken raised without antibiotics.

$5.99 clementines make their debut

Image via Wikipedia

The chink in the armor of $8.99 clementines appeared Monday at Costco in Hackensack, where 5 pounds of the Spanish citrus cost only $5.99.

Clementines started appearing a few weeks ago, but they were selling for $8.99 at Stop & Shop, H Mart and other stores.

Clementines from Morocco and other countries have shown up in the past, but the ones from Spain are consistently the best. They're easy to peel and sweet.

Will the price go any lower? Last year, ShopRite offered them for $4.99 with a store card. Stay tuned. 

ShopRite or shop wrong?

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It seems like I have been patronizing ShopRite forever. I recall moving to Englewood 30 years ago, and visiting what passed for a supermarket downtown. I can't remember its name, but nearly every shopper felt they deserved better.

We eventually got better -- urban renewal and a shopping center anchored by a ShopRite. Late 1980s, early 1990s? Can't be sure, but it became my main source of food locally. From the outset, produce was a weak point and it never really improved, despite the addition of organic products.

But the store began carrying Readington Farms chicken, a cheaper alternative to organic that is raised on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics; free-range, grass-fed Australian lamb and beef, the latter often for under $5 a pound; and packaged cold cuts without preservatives. Unfortunately, you couldn't count on every ShopRite having these products.

For example, the Rochelle Park store, which I began to patronize after our move to Hackensack in 2007, isn't strong on Goya and other Hispanic products, and doesn't even sell plantains. It also doesn't carry preservative-free cold cuts; the deli guy told me when he stocked them, they rotted on the shelf. And the fish guy there once confided he sprays a preservative on seafood. Gross.

Now, I shop at the Hackensack and Rochelle Park ShopRites, but my wife insists on returning to the Englewood store, which has been expanded at least twice. I get most of my produce and fish at H Mart, the big Korean supermarket in Little Ferry, or at Costco in Hackensack. 


I occasionally visit the Stop & Shop in Teaneck for the chain's naturally raised food, sold under the Nature's Promise label, which can be found throughout the store -- meat, dairy, lemonade and so forth.  

But Stop & Shop doesn't carry the items ShopRite imports from Spain and Italy: artisan, bronze-cut pasta; lemony lady fingers, and carbonated, 100%  fruit juice, to name just three.


Over the years, my visits to ShopRite became less frequent as I relied more and more on Fairway Market in Harlem (and now in Paramus), Trader Joe's, Costco, H Mart, Whole Foods and Fattal's Bakery. Yet, I don't think I'll ever stop going there for something.

ShopRite takes on Stop & Shop

At the ShopRite in Paramus in 2014.

 ShopRite has a full-page ad in The Record of Woodland Park today, trying to document its claim of being the "low-price leader" over Stop & Shop. 

You might have seen all the TV ads touting Stop & Shop's prices recently.

ShopRite says it has more than 700 items in its circular, compared with about 280 items in the Stop & Shop flier. 

"Where do you really think you can save more money every week?" 

The ShopRite ad lists 22 items with prices from both stores, and says ShopRite saves you $36.84 or 36%.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

How safe is that supermarket chicken?

Image via Wikipedia

The latest issue of Consumers Reports (January 2010) discloses results of tests on supermarket broiler chickens  for salmonella and/or campylobacter, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne illnesses. This is a long, informative article, complete with photos, charts and graphs. The headlines:

How safe is that chicken?
Most tested broilers were contaminated

Nature's Promise poultry from Stop & Shop is included, but two brands of chicken available in North Jersey are conspicuous by their absence: Readington Farms' antibiotic-free birds from Shop Rite and Murray's free-roaming chickens from Fairway Market in Paramus.  

One definition caught my eye. When the label says no antibiotics are administered, "don't assume this was verified unless you also see the label 'USDA organic.'" But the article doesn't name brands that do this. It does urge consumers to cook chicken to at least 165 degrees. We eat mostly dark meat and can cook it to 170 degrees or 180 degrees without affecting moistness.

Is there a difference between broilers and fryers? Can you broil a fryer and vice versa? Consumer Reports doesn't say.

The tests found the cleanest name-brand chicken to be Perdue, but the article doesn't discuss the use of antibiotics and possibly animal by-products to raise those chickens, two additives that are harmful to humans. Click on the link below to read the entire article:


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/january/food/chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm

New beaujolais, lower price for Australian lamb

I have been very happy for decades drinking the new beaujolais from France with my Thanksgiving turkey, and may choose the light, fruity wine again this year. Total Wine & More in River Edge is selling the 2009 red wine from producer Georges Duboeuf for $7.49 a bottle. I bought the same wine for $7.99 last week at the liquor store next to Costco in Hackensack (you don't need a membership card to shop there).
 
We had some nice dinners of  free-range, grass-fed Australian shoulder lamb chops I bought on sale for $3.69 a pound with a store card from Stop & Shop, but they were a lot bonier than pictured in the sale flier. Now, Pathmark is offering these same chops for $2.49 a pound with its store card, from Nov. 27-Dec. 3. The lower price may make the bone factor easier to swallow.

What's in your freezer?

We have a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer and the freezer side is stuffed, to the point where we "lose" food that gets shoved to the back of  shelves or bottom of drawers.

I did a quick inventory yesterday and found a package of guacamole from 2005, presumably from a multi-pack I bought at Costco. I am going to serve it tonight with Trader Joe's chipotle salsa, shoulder lamb cops from Australia, collard greens and potato salad with extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and allspice (photo above).

This is what else I found: uncured all-beef hot dogs and bacon from Tader Joe's, spinach-cheese ravioli, lobster bisque and wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, all from Costco; coarse, red Aleppo pepper, cumin, spinach pies, meat pies and spicy lamb sausage, all from Fattal's Bakery in Paterson; potato fritters and frozen pancakes from IKEA; three or four kinds of Korean dumplings, including meat-less, from Best Dumpling and H Mart, both in Englewood; pizza and focaccia from Jerry's in Englewood, Readington Farms' antibiotic-free whole broiler and chicken parts from Shop-Rite, some Turkish borek from Taskin Bakery in Paterson, and those Australian lamb chops, from Stop & Shop.

We have a house guest arriving tomorrow and plan to serve her some of these freezer "treasures."

 See next post: "A quick bread salad for breakfast."

Self -checkout can be a nightmare

Anyone know of a self-checkout system that goes smoothly every time you use it? My last experience, at the Super Stop & Shop in Hackensack yesterday, was frustrating and confusing, and I needed the assistance of an employee as well as the woman behind me to complete my purchase.

I went there to buy drug-free Australian shoulder lamb chops (on sale through Thursday for $3.69 a pound) and picked up antibiotic-free chicken legs sold under the Nature's Promise label, four packages in all. There was no price sign near the clementines from Spain -- the first I've seen this year -- and no wonder. A produce worker said they were $9.99 for a five-pound box, about twice what I'm used to paying.

The self-checkout systerm  -- called "EZ Shopper" -- turned out to be a broken promise. Three of my four packages scanned with a beep, but the fourth didn't and the belt ran backward. The employee came over to help. Then, after I swiped my credit card, I couldn't find the box in which to sign my name (it wasn't on the pad where I swiped the card). The woman behind me showed me it was located elesewhere.

In all the confusion, I didn't get credit for my reusable bag.

Tasting and shopping notes

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The block of smoked-mackerel sushi from Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater didn't disappoint. (See previous post.)  In fact, my wife, who squirms at the the thought of eating raw fish, loved the slices she tried. I ate mine without wasabi or soy sauce and they nicely set up our dinner of frozen wild sockeye salmon in a light Asian sauce.

I placed the frozen salmon (from Costco) in a glass plate set atop my steamer (it didn't fit inside), in a shallow pool of olive and sesame oils, fish sauce and cheap sake. I sprinkled salt on the fillets, rubbed them with coarse red Aleppo pepper and steamed them about 20 minutes for medium, serving the fish with leftover rice and peas, salad and pita bread.

The latest batch of Aleppo pepper I purchased from Fattal's on Main Street in Paterson is noticeably darker than what I had and noticeably spicier, a good thing. I keep it in a plastic container in the freezer and sprinkle it over eggs, fish and chicken, but wonder if the intensity fades over time.

I forgot to mention I bought aged Manchego sheep-milk's cheese from Spain at Costco the other day. The price, $8.29 a pound, is 70 cents less than the sale price at Fairway Market in Paramus and several dollars less than the regular price. Storage tip: Trim off the inedible rind, slice the wedge into three pieces and wrap each in plastic wrap before placing them in a freezer bag in the fridge. This also works with a large wedge of Reggiano Parmigiano.

North Jersey markets are running some good sales, starting today.  

Fairway Market has three pounds of herbicide-free Campari tomatoes for $5, three heads of organic romaine for $2.99 and Columbia supremo coffee for $4.99 a pound. Stop & Shop is reprising its sale on drug-free Australian shoulder lamb chops, $3.69 a pound for three pounds or more. And two markets on Railway Avenue in Paterson, El Campesino and El Rancho, are selling limes or lemons at 10 for 99 cents, 20 pounds of Canilla rice for $3.99, three cups of La Yogurt (6 ounces) for 99 cents, Lactaid milk for $4.99 (96 ounces) and Hass avocados, 2 for 99 cents.

If you think Paterson is going too far for food, stop first at Aleppo Restaurant, at Main and Thomas streets, or Hummus Restaurant across the street for a nice lunch, pick up Syrian bread and spices at Fattal's down the strteet, then go food shopping. Hungry food shoppers spend more, research has shown.

Please be a good neighbor, Fairway

I brought a bunch of reusable bags with me on my $100 shopping trip to Fairway Market in Paramus yesterday. But the cashier didn't give me credit for the bags. Why isn't New York-based Fairway Market giving its North Jersey shoppers an incentive to reduce their use of plastic bags? (See last post, "Trying to warm up to Fairway Market in Paramus.")

I'm convinced the plastic bag will be the last thing left after life ends, with tens of thousands of them blowing around as evidence of our rampant consumerism. Reusable shopping bags are larger and hold more. There are quilted ones for cold items, too. They just make so much sense, as long as you remember to take them into the supermarket, which is not as easy as it sounds.

ShopRite gives customers 5 cents back, not 15 cents, as I write peviously, for each reusable bag. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Stop and Shop and other markets do likewise, though the amount varies.

And high and mighty Fairway? Here's another example of why many of us are slowly souring on the food-shopping experience at its new store in Paramus.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

American v. Australian lamb

When I bought antibiotic-free Australian shoulder lamb chops at Stop and Shop this month, I noticed they came in a box with a seal that read: Mountain States/Rosen Co., which markets drug-free American lamb and veal. (See earlier post, "Just where does our meat come from?")  So I e-mailed the company. I received an answer today.


I wrote:

I never see antibiotic-free U.S. lamb in supermarkets, only antibiotic-free Australian lamb. Why is that? In fact, I bought Australian lamb at a Super Stop and Shop that came in a box carrying the Mountain States/Rosen Company seal.

The answer: 


The reason that antibiotic-free lamb is seldom found in US supermarkets is due to the cost associated with raising and producing this product. It is very expensive to raise and to produce in the US. The Australians have much lower raising and feed costs than the US ranchers and essentially only feed their animals a grass diet, which again in much cheaper.

I hope this answers your question, and if you require further info please email me back and I will be happy to go into more detail with you.

Best,

Chris Abel

Mountain States Rosen LLC

Just where does our meat come from?

I haven't seen Australian lamb shoulder chops at my usual source, ShopRite, for many months, but there they were in glorious color as a weekly special in the Stop & Shop circular. At $3.69 a pound with the store card, they are a cheaper alternative to Australian lamb chops at $8.99 or more per pound, and they're grass-fed and raised without antibiotics.

When I visited the Super Stop & Shop in Teaneck on Saturday, I couldn't find them on the shelf, but the butcher brought out a large cardboard box from the freezer and then a second box. I asked if the boxes had anything on the outside about antibiotics, and he said no, only that the contents were from Australia.

The box also had a seal from Mountain States/Rosen Company and an address at the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, the huge food-distribution center in the Bronx. An Internet search showed Mountain States/Rosen represents three brands of naturally raised American lamb and veal, none of which I have ever seen in North Jersey markets.

Inside the boxes were four Australian lamb shoulder chops, looking a lot bonier than the ones in the Stop & Shop circular, arranged on a foam tray and shrink-wrapped. The butcher hit some buttons on a machine and slapped a label on the package before handing two of them to me.

When seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked rare, the lollipop-like Australian lamb chops melt in your mouth. These shoulder chops probably aren't as tender, but they have a distinctive taste and will make terrific fall meals. Here is a link to the Web site that describes how the animals are raised and lambs' nutritional value.

http://www.australian-lamb.com/

Pork has less fat than chicken breast?

In reviewing old issues of Consumer Reports On Health, I came across an item suggesting that pork has less fat than an equivalent amount of skinless chicken breast.

"Evidence suggests pork is 16 percent leaner and has 27 percent less saturated fat than it did 15 years ago," the September 2006 newsletter said.

"A U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis (funded in part by the National Pork Board) found that a 3-ounce serving of pork tenderloin contains 2.98 grams of fat, compared with 3.03 grams in a 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken breast."

There's no mention of how most pork is raised with antibiotics and growth hormones and fed who knows what. In fact, I've read that pork receives more antibiotics than any other animal raised for human consumption. So if you love pork, be sure to buy the drug- and hormone-free variety sold at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market and some supermarkets.

Trader Joe's has St. Louis-style ribs from the Niman Ranch and at least two brands of drug- and preservative-free bacon. Whole Foods has the biggest selection of naturally raised pork, beef, lamb and poultry of any market in North Jersey. Super Stop & Shop carries Nature's Promise, a line of organic and naturally raised food, including drug- and hormone-free pork chops. See previous post, "Kudos for Stop & Shop." (This post was revised.)

What else is in those processed hot dogs?

I would gladly join the lawsuit that was to be filed today against hot-dog makers by three New Jersey residents, who are seeking class-action designation. 

They are asking the court to order the food processors to add warning labels, and cite research showing a heightened risk of colon cancer in people who eat hot dogs and other processed meat.

I stopped buying cured hot dogs and preserved cold cuts a couple of years ago, hoping to cut down on harmful nitrates and nitrites. 

But I also didn't want to eat meat or poultry that was raised with antibiotics and hormones, and fed animal by-products, the industry euphemism for the bits of dead animals that go into the feed. 

Do you really want to eat beef from a cow that ate bits of dead animals and may have fallen down sick on the way to the slaughterhouse, only to be dragged inside to its death?

Trader Joe's, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Fairway and Whole Foods sell a variety of uncured hot dogs, uncured bacon and unprocessed cold cuts. 

Applegate Farms produces a large variety of cold cuts without preservatives. You can find them at the ShopRite in Englewood and at Fairway in Paramus, among other stores.

I have some Nature's Promise all-beef hot dogs from Stop & Shop in my freezer. They are uncured and not preserved, and contain no nitrates or nitrites, "except for naturally occurring nitrates in sea salt, celery powder and nutmeg." 

Equally as important, the beef used was raised without antibiotics and hormones, and the cows were vegetarian-fed.

--VICTOR E. SASSON

Kudos for Stop & Shop

I stopped at the Super Stop & Shop in Teaneck the other day in search of drug-free chicken, but found so much more. The supermarket carries Nature's Promise, a line of organic and naturally raised food that I found throughout the store.

Besides chicken without antibiotics, there was drug-free pork and beef without growth hormones. The pork chops were $4.99 a pound with the store card. A pound of organic spring mix was priced at $6.99. I found many other products under the Nature's Promise label, including uncured beef hot dogs and organic lemon- and lime-ade.

ShopRite carries drug-free beef and lamb from Australia on occasion, but I haven't found anything but conventional pork there. It doesn't have a line of organic and naturally raised food similar to Stop & Shop's. It's good to know I have a local source of pure pork and beef in Stop & Shop.