Independently owned, organic grocery store. Our Annex serves prepared foods and offers a selection of wine and beer. Our florists are here to help you with fresh local cuts and dried bouquets.
Beeler’s Pork is a sponsor of our 40th Anniversary and there is a coupon in every raffle tote for some of their Hickory Smoked Uncured Bacon.
For six generations, the Beeler family has been raising the bar for pork production. In 1846, their great-great-grandpa Fred emigrated from Germany and settled in Madison County, Iowa. The work he did set the high standards for years to come.
Today, the Beeler family still owns the original family farm that started it all. They stick to the simple, humane, and natural way of raising pork, just like Grandpa Fred. Because when your goal is to deliver the very best, wholesome pork products to family tables, it’s best to keep the business as a family affair.
Quite possibly the best tasting uncured bacon on the planet! Looking for a bacon that is not only delicious, but is also made from antibiotic free, Non-GMO fed pigs and ingredients? Try Beeler’s Pure Pork Non-GMO Hickory smoked uncured bacon!
Ingredients: Pork, water, sea salt, turbinado sugar, celery powder.
Thank You Beeler’s!
Their hens are carefree and pasture-raised. They explore, play games of chicken, and never have to cross the road. Best of all, they lay darn delicious eggs.
Fair Trade and Non-GMO Month start October 1! Our friends at Equal Exchange have put together some baskets of their products for us to give away. Starting tomorrow, come by any of our locations to enter to win!
The Bio-Engineered (BE) Food Labeling Law is going to take effect in January 2022. This infographic from The Non-GMO Project gives you some solid information about this new law and why The Natural Grocery Company supports stricter labeling standards like the one The Non-GMO Project provides. In our stores the shelf tags that are green indicate products that are certified Non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project. Products with blue labels still go through a process of verification conducted by our buyers and staff and we do our best to keep GMOs out of our stores but the best labeling program continues to be The Non-GMO Project Verification. We think it is important to “Follow the Butterfly”.
Shoppers are demanding more: More from their local stores, more from their chosen brands, and even more from the farmers who grow their food.
Transparency in food production and in labeling is critical. Shoppers have a right to know if what they’re buying supports both people and planet.
This October, we celebrate both Fair Trade Month and Non-GMO Month — highlighting two labels you may have seen on your food often and want to know a bit more about.
What is “Non-GMO Project Verified”?
GMOs (or genetically modified organisms) are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering, creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and/or virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.
Non-GMO Project verification means that a product is compliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard, which includes stringent provisions for ingredient testing, traceability, and segregation.
What is “Fairtrade Certified”?
Every day, we enjoy products only grown in tropical countries — products like coffee, chocolate and bananas. These farmers and workers often do not earn enough to have a decent living — that is to eat nutritious food, send their kids to school, have adequate shelter and weather a crisis (like COVID-19). Many live on less than $2 per day.
When you see the Fairtrade Mark on a product, you know that farmers were paid at least the cost of production as well as an added Fairtrade Premium to invest in their businesses and communities. You know that child labor was banned and that measures were in place to protect the local environment and water supply. You also know that workers’ rights were upheld and they have the choice to collectively bargain.
Why do we need such labels on food at all?
“Natural” food and “fair” food are big business these days and “greenwashing” has become a serious problem. By making unverified or uncertified claims about how their food is grown or processed (“self-made marketing claims”), some unscrupulous companies capitalize on shoppers choosing to pay a bit more for high-quality food that supports both people and planet. In response, there is a sea of different labels popping up with claims that sound really good, but have little backing them up.
So how does an informed shopper know what’s backed up and what’s empty words? Choosing well-recognized, independent, third-party seals on products is the best place to start. Seals like Non-GMO Project Verified and Fairtrade Certified are rigorous standards with meaningful rules that need to be followed in order to receive the seal. This may actually require laboratory testing and supply chain transparency that allows for “identity preservation.” That typically requires the strict segregation of ingredients that are compliant with the standards from ingredients that are not.
Both the Non-GMO Project and Fairtrade America are nonprofits driven by their missions to change how food is made in order to better serve people and planet. The Non-GMO Project has been verifying products since 2010 and Fairtrade has been operating internationally since 1989. Both nonprofits publish their Standards on their websites to give shoppers transparency, first and foremost. It also helps to check which brands are using these labels: Brands both large and small voluntarily showcase this compliance by including either the Fairtrade or Non-GMO Project seal on their packaging (and in some cases, both seals). This further gives shoppers assurance that it’s not a new fad but a sustainability tool used by brands to have a positive impact on people and planet.
How do Fairtrade and the Non-GMO Project overlap?
The rigorous Fairtrade Standards ban the use of GMO seeds. This is partly because farmers may get stuck in an exploitative cycle when they rely on big agribusinesses for genetically modified seeds, rather than buying seeds from a variety of sources. Furthermore, Fairtrade and others in the field are not yet sure of the impact GMOs may have on the environment, which farmers rely on for their livelihoods.
What you can do
Shop the labels! This store will be highlighting products that are Fairtrade Certified and Non-GMO Project Verified throughout October. Support brands working towards a more sustainable future, and try something new.
Want to learn more?
Get the scoop on Fairtrade. Sign up to receive Fairtrade America’s newsletter and follow them on social media — @FairtradeMarkUS
Follow the Butterfly with the Non-GMO Project. Check out their recipes and like them on social media — @NonGMOProject.
STAFF PICK – VIOLIFE by Kristy, Housewares Buyer
“Many people know this about me; I am … was a cheese junky. Cheese on pasta, cheese on sandwiches, cheese on crackers… you get the idea. Then one day my world changed, and I could no longer digest lactose or casein (milk sugar and protein). Oh, no! Now what?
I tried all kinds of alternatives, none of which satisfied me in the same way as “real” cheese, and none of them tasted too great either. I soon gave up, and while brushing a small tear from my eye, realized that my cheese-eating days were over.
Luckily, my despair was short-lived, as it appeared one day, at El Cerrito Natural Grocery – Violife! I couldn’t believe it! Finally, an alternative cheese that tasted like the real thing! No soy, no gluten, no funky aftertaste! This is a non-GMO plant-based cheese that has the same feel and consistency as “real” cheese, and the flavors are spot on. I put it to the test and ate it plain – fantastic! I melted it on a burger – beautiful!
If you’re vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, lactose intolerant, or if you just want to cut down on cholesterol, this may be a good choice for you. I could go on about how great these products are, but really, I think that it’s best that you try it yourself.”
