Food Forum Fridays
Our Member Linkages Director, Melanie Bettenhausen, will be available to talk with members, customers, and employees about food related issues during Food Forum Fridays.

Eureka Co-op 11 a.m – 1 p.m. outside the Community Kitchen
Arcata Co-op 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. in the Good Food Gallery

Want to know about the latest recalls, cloned meat, or letter-writing campaign? Want to share what you know? This is an opportunity to have open dialog about the state of food, food safety, and food security for the future.  This casual dialog will take place every Friday.
 
Drop in and share your thoughts with her. Everyone is invited!

 

Cooking School at the Eureka Co-op

Download Class Schedule

Click here to register!

Classes are from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Classes fill up quickly, so register today! Pre-registration and payment are required for all classes. Sign up here or call Lindsay Waldron at 443-6027, ext. 102.

Want to stay abreast of new classes? Send an email to lindsaywaldron@northcoastco-op.com with "New Classes" in the subject line. You will receive email notification when a new class is added.

 

Members Out Loud Online!
The Board of Directors and the Management Team of the Co-op invite feedback and comments from members about Co-op operations and other food related topics. If you would like to post a comment on the Web Log click here. If you saw something in the Co-op News that you'd like to respond to, click here to be a part of the ongoing dialog, or send an email to jacquetorres@northcoastco-op.com.

Trust Your Source (TYS)
(formerly known as Regional Flavor Plus (RF+))

Trust Your Source (TYs) is the Co-op’s new project to promote awareness of food products grown or produced within the Klamath/North Coast Bioregion of California and whose producers use “Sustainable Production” methods. “Sustainable” is not the same as “Organic”. "Sustainable Production" methods or systems:

• Reduce or eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
• Avoid the use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering.
• Conserve soil and water.
• Provide safe and fair working conditions for on-farm labor.
• Provide healthy and humane care for livestock.
• Protect and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity on working farm landscapes.
• Reduce food-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions through energy conservation, recycling, minimal packaging, and local sales.

The Klamath/North Coast Bioregion, as defined by the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System, includes all of Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino, and Lake counties; plus parts of Siskiyou, Shasta, Glenn, Tehama and Colusa Counties.

Going beyond organic certification or “buy local” campaigns, regional sustainability integrates economic, social, and environmental considerations, and rewards local farmers, both conventional and organic, who employ ecological practices.

Over the next few months the Co-op will be identifying and labeling products that meet these criteria.  We will be contacting regional producers about the sustainability of their production methods. If you see a product on our shelves that should be labeled as TYS please let us know.

Whether it’s organic lettuce from Orleans, Tofu Shop tofu from Arcata or the Co-op’s own table wines from Mendocino County, the TYS sign indicates that the product is not only locally produced but sustainably produced as well.    

Food Advocacy
You can now access the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) directly from our website. Click here.

GMO Beet Sugar
OCA gives opportunities to send messages to big business. Send a message to David Berg, President of the American Crystal Sugar Company, opposing the introduction of GMO/Round-up Ready Beet Sugar into the food source. Click here.

*This information is reproduced with permission from the OCA website . The Co-op does not endorse any of the OCA website content and provides it here only as an educational tool for members.

Carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane in Cleaning and Natural Care Products
A recent study released by the Organic Consumer Association has found traces of 1,4-dioxane in 47 of 100 natural cleaning and body care products tested. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared 1,4-dioxane a probable human carcinogen because it causes cancer in lab animals.

Scientists do not now know what, if any, cancer risk humans face from years-long use of products containing the chemical. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates cosmetics, has set no standards for 1,4-dioxane. The agency has periodically tested products for the compound since the late 1970s and says levels of it have substantially declined since then. The FDA says the current levels do not present a hazard to consumers, although they have advised the industry to reduce amounts in cosmetics as much as possible.

Currently there are no set standards or clear guidelines for what makes a non-food product “natural” or “organic”.

A list of products found to contain 1,4-dioxane is available at Customer Service. The Co-op will be researching the issue and will provide more information as it becomes available.

Click here for more OCA information on 1,4-Dioxane.
Click here for more FDA information on 1,4-Dioxane.
Click here for more EPA information on 1,4-Dioxane.


Cloned Animal Food
Are you outraged by the announcement by the Food and Drug Administration claiming that food from cloned animals and their offspring is as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals and that labeling of products from cloned animals and their offspring will not be mandatory? You are not alone. The Consumers Union shows that 89% of consumers want to know if the meat and milk they buy comes from cloned animals. Both the Center for Food Safety and the Consumers Union are organizing letter-writing campaigns to let Congress know that consumers demand labels identifying cloned food. Click here to join the Center for Food Safety campaign. Click here to join the Consumers Union campaign. You can also tell food companies that you won't eat food from cloned animals by taking the Clone-free Pledge here.

The FDA’s voluntary moratorium on the selling of food from cloned animals (but not their offspring), in effect since 2001, expired this year. There is no information on how many producers abided by it.
Read more...

USDA Recommends That Food From Clones Stay Off the Market
FDA Says Cloned Animals Safe In Food
FDA Opens "Pandora's Box" by Approving Food from Clones

Is Cloned Organic?
The Organic Trade Association, Organic Valley, Organic Consumers Association and The Center for Food Safety issued public statements against allowing cloning in organic production in January 2007. In response, the National Organic Standards Board issued a recommendation to the National Organic Program that cloning be prohibited from organic production. The National Organic Program adopted that recommendation and included it in the Organic Foods Protection Act regulations. Cloning is now among a variety of excluded methods “to influence growth and development by means that are not possible under natural conditions or processes.”

What's in Your Food?
The Co-op is taking your concern one step further by contacting our suppliers to find out their individual policies on cloning. We will post those statements as we receive them. Check back to find out which products are clone free. These are the suppliers we have heard from so far. Click on the name to read their statement.

Horizon Organic
Humboldt Grassfed Beef
Organic Valley

*If you are a supplier and would like to post your statement on our website, please contact Melanie Bettenhausen at 826-8670 ext. 132.

Board of Directors
The next Board of Directors meeting is Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 6 p.m. at the Eureka Co-op Community Meeting Room. As always, members are encouraged to attend--come see what democracy looks like at your Co-op!

Click here for the April agenda.

Click here for the General Manager's Report.

Click here for minutes from March 2008.
(Only approved minutes can be posted. Please contact Valerie Davis for more current information.)

 

Get Involved!
The next Co-op Affairs Committee meeting will be at the Arcata Co-op Conference Room at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. This is your chance to share your food concerns with other members, learn about Co-op issues, and be a part of the community that keeps our Co-op shoppers informed. Members are encouraged to attend!

Click here for the April 2008 agenda.

Click here for minutes from March 2008.
(Only approved minutes can be posted. Please contact Melanie Bettenhausen for more current information.)

Not only are Co-op members owners of a democratically controlled food corporation, they also receive a financial benefit of saving 10% on their total purchase the second Wednesday of each month. If you aren't a member, maybe now is a good time to join! Be a member of a food cooperative that sustains our community, join today. Learn more about Co-op membership

Come shop: May 14, June 11, July 9