How well do you know your food? A challenge!

I was telling someone earlier how I try to know a lot of stuff about the food I buy, and then I was thinking about that issue more, and decided to issue a challenge to everyone.  And I’m going to do it too.

For this challenge, pick one food item in your kitchen.  It will be a LOT easier if you pick something that has a single ingredient in it, like milk, eggs, strawberries, apples, etc.  The more ingredients in a food item, the more work this will be.  But if you really want a challenge, pick a Weigh****chers frozen dinner or a protein bar.

For whatever food item you picked, try to answer as many of the following questions as you can.  You can google, you can call or email the company that produces the item, whatever you want.  If you cannot find certain information about the food you pick, think about why that might be.

OK, so here are the questions:

What’s in the food?  Do you know the nutritional information?  Any ingredients you can’t pronounce and aren’t familiar with?  If so, look them up and figure out what they are.

Where does the food come from?  Where is it made?  If you picked something like a frozen dinner, where does each ingredient come from?

Who makes it?  Are the workers paid at least minimum wage?  Any child labor involved?  (If you buy something like strawberries picked on large farms in the U.S., there is a good change undocumented workers, some of them children, picked those strawberries and were paid less than minimum wage to do so)

If there are any animal products in the food item (meat, milk, eggs), how are the animals treated?  Do they have access to the outdoors at all?  What are they fed?  Are they given antibiotics and/or hormones (which would then be in your food)?

Are the ingredients organic?

How is the food packaged?  Does it have more packaging material than necessary and is the packaging recyclable?

And if you can think of anything I didn’t, please share!

I’ll post my answers in a minute.

I picked milk.  ‘Cause it’s easy and I already know all the answers and don’t have to do any work.  But I might do a harder one later.

What’s in the food?  Do you know the nutritional information?  Any ingredients you can’t pronounce and aren’t familiar with?  If so, look them up and figure out what they are.

Milk.  And that’s it.  I don’t know the exact nutritional info because it does not come with a label, and I’m guessing they would vary slightly from day to day, but it’s raw whole milk, which Self.com says has 126 calories and eight grams of protein per cup.  No chemicals or weird ingredients.

Where does the food come from? 

Mt. Gilead, Ohio.

Who makes it?  Are the workers paid at least minimum wage?  Any child labor involved? 

It comes from a small family farm, and it’s my understanding there are a couple of paid farm hands, as well.  I’ve met two of the farm hands and they are definitely not children.  I don’t know how much they get paid, though.

If there are any animal products in the food item (meat, milk, eggs), how are the animals treated?  Do they have access to the outdoors at all?  What are they fed?  Are they given antibiotics and/or hormones (which would then be in your food)?

The cows are outdoors all day unless the weather is very bad.  They look like happy cows.  They eat mostly grass, with some organic grain in winter if the pasture is covered with too much snow to get to the grass.  They do not get antibiotics (unless they are ill, but then their milk is not used until they have recovered) or hormones.

Are the ingredients organic?

Yes.

How is the food packaged?  Does it have more packaging material than necessary and is the packaging recyclable?

It doesn’t come in a container.  I have to provide my own containers.  Which I wash and reuse.

 

Eggs

What’s in the food? Do you know the nutritional information? Any ingredients you can’t pronounce and aren’t familiar with? If so, look them up and figure out what they are.
Just egss

Where does the food come from? Where is it made? If you picked something like a frozen dinner, where does each ingredient come from?: Whole food store - their brand, local (relatively) farm,

Who makes it? Are the workers paid at least minimum wage? Any child labor involved? (If you buy something like strawberries picked on large farms in the U.S., there is a good change undocumented workers, some of them children, picked those strawberries and were paid less than minimum wage to do so): local farm - not sure not sure...

If there are any animal products in the food item (meat, milk, eggs), how are the animals treated? Do they have access to the outdoors at all? What are they fed? Are they given antibiotics and/or hormones (which would then be in your food)?The label claim fee range, no antibitics, vegetarian feed

Are the ingredients organic? no, but natural...better than commercial.. in price range I can afford buy as many as I need - want

How is the food packaged? Does it have more packaging material than necessary and is the packaging recyclable? Standard egg cartoon - definetly biodegradable - recyclable - falls appart when wet..

Kelly, I would really be interested in knowing how much "fat" is in the blue milk (Or raw milk). I wish I could have someone figure that out. I use organic skim milk so I'll check that out an post back later, but wanted to let you know you did get me to thinking about it.
Thanks,
Deneen

Is blue milk the same as raw milk?  I've never heard it referred to as blue milk.  It's whole milk, so approximately 3.25 % fat, approximately eight grams fat per eight ounces.  Here's why it would vary a little though:

1. Some breeds of cows give fattier milk than others.  The farmer I buy from has several different breeds of cows so my milk contains a mixture.  And the mixture could vary slightly from week to week, because some of the cows may not be being milked (well, they would all be getting milked, but the milk may not all be sold) if they are sick or something one day.

2.  I get the milk from a big tank.  Every ten minutes, the tank automatically stirs the milk so the fat (cream) doesn't all rise to the top.  The spigot to get the milk out is at the bottom of the tank.  If it's been almost ten minutes since it's stirred itself when I get my milk, it may have slightly less fat in it because some of the cream has risen.  It will still have cream in the milk I get, but maybe slightly less.

3.  Most of the time when I am getting ready to pour myself some milk, I shake the bottle.  The milk is not homogenized, so the cream rises to the top, so you have to shake it ulness you just want to pour yourself a cup of cream.   However, if I make butter, then I do just use the cream off the top.  So the next time I pour myself a cup of milk from that bottle, it would have much less fat in it because I've already poured most of the fat off.

Blue Milk is the milk you get directly from the cows right after milking. At least that is the way I get it here in East Texas. The reason we call it Blue Milk is because it has a blue tint to it right after milking the cow. I love this milk but it has to much fat in it. I grew up on this milk. We have our own cows that are "free range". We don't milk any of our cows that have been ill and on antibiotics because we don's want unneccessary antibiotics. I miss this milk since I have had to go to organic skim milk. Sometimes I will switch up and have goat milk but that is just not the same as our blue milk. Just goes to show how things are so different around our beautiful country. I also get my own eggs from our own free range chickens. Guess I never thought about how "free" most of our food is here on the farm. Free of additives and pesticides and antibiotics that is.

 What’s in the food?  Do you know the nutritional information?  Any ingredients you can’t pronounce and aren’t familiar with?  If so, look them up and figure out what they are.

Yemisir Wat (spicy Ethiopian Lentil Dip). There's not a lot in my fridge! It is made, to my understanding with Lentils, Ethiopian berbere spice mix and oil. I don't know exact stats but 2 tbsp (which is usually what I eat) comes in at about 100 calories or so. 

Where does the food come from?  Where is it made?  If you picked something like a frozen dinner, where does each ingredient come from?

It came from the nice Ethiopian couple at the farmer's market, who actually grow their own lentils. 

Who makes it?  Are the workers paid at least minimum wage?  Any child labor involved?  (If you buy something like strawberries picked on large farms in the U.S., there is a good change undocumented workers, some of them children, picked those strawberries and were paid less than minimum wage to do so)

They make it and own their food business. 

If there are any animal products in the food item (meat, milk, eggs), how are the animals treated?  Do they have access to the outdoors at all?  What are they fed?  Are they given antibiotics and/or hormones (which would then be in your food)?

Yemisir Wat is both vegetarian and vegan.

Are the ingredients organic?

Yes. I've asked before. 

How is the food packaged?  Does it have more packaging material than necessary and is the packaging recyclable?

It is packaged in a basic round plastic container much like the ones you can get in a Sam's Club. They are a small operation so I think that's where they get it. There is an Avery type label on top that says "Yemisir Wat"

I chose Walmart's Great Value Light Tuna Pouch:

What’s in the food?  tuna, water, vegetable broth & salt
Do you know the nutritional information?  2.6 oz serving/ 90 cals/ 0g fat/ 2g carbs/ 19 g protein
Any ingredients you can’t pronounce and aren’t familiar with? No.

Where does the food come from?  Thailand

Who makes it? Idk the name of the fisheries. (couldn't find the info)
 Are the workers paid at least minimum wage? I haven't a clue (I have always assumed "fisherman" made pretty good money. I could be completely wrong. I'm going by the Deadliest Catch ... They don't have a Thailand crew ;)
Any child labor involved? I wouldn't think so but honestly in the processing & packaging there very well could be. Idk.

how are the animals treated? This is wild caught "dolphin safe" tuna. Walmart does not specify how the tuna is caught and while it may be "safe" to tuna it may actually be dangerous to other ocean life.

Are the ingredients organic? No, they are not.

How is the food packaged? I bought the pouch tuna.
Does it have more packaging material than necessary and is the packaging recyclable? It is not more packaging than necessary but I don't believe it could be recycled. Maybe with aluminum foil? paper? idk.