Questions you should ask your butcher

We’ve become savvier food shoppers, thanks in part to the influence of writers like Michael Pollan, and movies like Food, Inc. and Fresh. Pollan’s books ("The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “In Defense of Food” are just two) and the movies have helped us think about food in new ways, and to sort out what’s important to us. Many will agree that eating safe, clean food is crucial to growing and maintaining healthy bodies that make us better equipped to sidestep illnesses and diseases brought on by toxic foods.

More of us are asking tough questions of people in the know at the food stores where we shop: Where do these green beans (or tomatoes or onions, potatoes, green peppers, squash, watermelon, peaches...) grow? Does the farmer use pesticides and other chemicals? Depending on their answers,  we may choose to find an organic food store, farmers market, or farm producer (CSAs) who can give us the goods we want and need to get and stay healthy.

Fruits and veggies aren’t the only fresh foods whose source we should be questioning. Don’t you also want to know where your eggs and cheese, chicken, lamb, and beef come from?

If you regularly shop at a local butcher shop, you may already know those answers. But if you plan to start shopping at one, don’t forget your due diligence---ask the questions I’ve listed below. Then, if you don’t like what you hear, let your feet do the walking…out the door. If that’s how your visit ends, consider connecting directly with a farm-to-fork producer/owner, instead.

Mr. Butcher, please tell me...

• How the beef was raised and how it was treated? For the majority of its life, could the cow stand up and walk about freely?
• What did it eat? Did it feed out of a bunk? Or did it graze on grass every day?
• Who raised the meat? Do you know the rancher? (About 94% of all cattle are owned by three corporations.)

I talked to Don Manea, owner of Manea's Meats, which is located in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.  Don opened his doors nearly 35 years ago, and continues to do a brisk business today, although his customers have changed their buying habits somewhat in the current economical downturn.

I asked Don how many of his customers ask questions about where the meat in his shop comes from. His answer surprised me: “Only about 1%,” he said.

When I asked where he buys his meat, he said that the majority comes from J&B, a wholesaler corporation, IBP, and a few other sources. But, he added, “no one can tell you exactly where it comes from.” It’s likely the beef is raised in one of these states: South Dakota, Iowa, or Nebraska.

While Don's shop doesn’t sell organic beef, he does offer some organic cheese, and he tells me he has a source for organic chicken for those customers who request it.

Manea’s Meats is located at 114 2nd Street North, Sauk Rapids, MN; (320) 253-8683.