Food Info

Food Quality Considerations

Remember the co-op is responsible for screening the quality of food you receive. The following specifications are required of any supplier that would be allowed to supply your food.

• No genetically altered food.
• No imports from countries using illegal fertilizers and insecticides.
• No nitrogen packing on any seeds or grains, which need to maintain germination percentages.
• No "blends". (Dead seed or grain is blended with fresh grain to provide a low selling price while making a strong profit on the old grain.)
• No beans raised in heavy irrigation areas. (Removal of high moisture content causes hardness and the inability to cook or use legumes.)
• No "triple cleaned" wheat or other grains unless techniques for rock and insect parts removal have been used.
• No old "left over" foods. A lot of 6 and 7-year old food is circulating left over from the Y2K rush.

Don't ask a retailer whether they violate these specifications. If you were in business to sell emergency foods and you had $30,000 worth of inventory left over from Y2K (some of which was genetically altered imported from Mexico or otherwise sub-standard), you probably couldn't morally see yourself doing anything but dumping it and taking the financial hit. You would never consider selling it to people whose lives would one day depend on it. Unfortunately, there are many who are unable to resist the temptation to get their money back by selling it to innocent, unsuspecting people who don't know what they are getting.

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