More consumers asking for details about their food

At the meat counter, in the produce aisle and in the restaurant, consumers are asking more questions about their food.

If it is meat, many want to know where the animal was raised and how it was fed. If it is produce, they want to know what, if any, chemicals were used to grow and ship it or whether a local farmer tended the fruits and vegetables on their plates.

The recent controversy over a beef additive called “pink slime” by opponents did not create the trend, which restaurateurs, grocers and farmers say has gained momentum for more than a decade. However, the debate over lean, finely textured beef adds more voices to the chorus: What is in our food, and where did it come from?

More on lean, finely textured beef

“There was a time when people were pretty complacent about their food and just trusted someone else was going to take care of them,” said Kelly Foss, director of the Downtown Farmers Market in Des Moines. “The dialogue has changed a lot. Now people want to know who is growing their food.”

The controversy over beef trimmings is the latest in a series of nationwide concerns that have put consumers on edge. One factor is food safety. A salmonella outbreak in the past two months that has sickened scores of Americans is being blamed on tainted sushi. Beef products contaminated with E. coli forced the recall of at least 200,000 pounds of ground beef from January 2011 through last month. In 2010, Wright County Farms in Iowa recalled more than 380 million eggs tainted with salmonella, an outbreak linked to hundreds of illnesses.

Some consumers are focused primarily on a more healthful diet. They’re following the advice of the USDA and nutrition experts and opting for proteins like fish, beans and soy rather than so much red meat.

Others prefer supporting a local, small-scale farmer they know rather than a distant, industrialized operation.

“People want a more intimate understanding of their food,” said George Formaro, owner of Centro, Django and other eateries in the Des Moines metro.

Twenty years ago, a question about where meat or produce came from was “almost nonexistent,” Formaro said. “You would go to other cities and see the listing of farms where cattle were raised on the menus, but not here. Now, you’re seeing a lot more of that here. People care. They want to know what they are eating.”

More food options, but price still factor

Many Iowans are getting more creative in how they choose their food.

Andrew Kingsbury of Ames rarely buys meat at a grocery store. Instead, he buys a share of a grass-fed cow grown by an area farmer. After the animal is slaughtered, a local butcher processes the meat and gives Kingsbury and his family a freezer full of hamburger, T-bone steaks, roasts and other cuts.

“The meat comes out to be very inexpensive per pound,” he said. “It usually lasts us more than a year.”

Price remains a powerful factor in food choices.

Katherine Thomas has moved meat from the center of the plate for her Fort Dodge family.

“With grocery prices rising, we are eating more vegetables, beans and seasonal fruit and preparing more meals with meat as a side dish rather than the main course,” she said. “I try to balance price with quality, and organic meat is not readily available in our area.”

One argument in favor of using lean, finely textured beef is that it reduces the cost of hamburger. Because it’s leaner, it’s also considered a healthier option than regular ground beef.

Individuals and families who are struggling financially often choose the cheapest option — which frequently does not include fresh produce or higher grades of meat, said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University who writes the influential blog foodpolitics.com.

“We have spent an inordinate amount of time making food cheaper rather than making food better,” she said. “It’s hard to argue food should cost more, but there are a lot of problems with the pressure to keep food cheap. Companies cut corners. Then you end up with big outbreaks of E-coli and salmonella.”

Nestle said some advocates want to shape the current farm bill in Congress to encourage eating more fruits and vegetables, which may include subsidies for lower-income families and individuals.

Buyers also seek information, choice

Price is important, but it’s not the only factor in food choices, said Neil Hamilton, director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University.

“For some people, cost is the only factor,” he said. “We also learned from the beef additive controversy there are other values in food: information and choice. We heard people saying they did not know the additive was there, and they wanted to know so they choose for themselves whether to buy it.”

Hamilton, who also owns a small farm in Dallas County, said the increasing popularity of farmers markets, community-supported agriculture (where consumers contract with farmers), urban farming and other efforts show consumers “want to be directly in touch with who is growing their food.”

Grocery stores have changed the way they present food to their customers to meet demands for more information about food. Hy-Vee, for example, has dietitians available in all of its 235 stores throughout the Midwest. The West Des Moines-based chain uses the NuVal nutrition rating system, which assigns a score for food on a scale with 100 being the highest. The idea is to give consumers a quick guide to the healthfulness of the items they’re buying.

“We do more training with our employees at the retail level so that they can answer the questions they are getting,” said Ruth Comer, Hy-Vee spokeswoman. “We want to reflect the reality that customers want more information about the foods they buy without inundating them with so much information that it makes it difficult to process. That’s why NuVal, with its scores, are very helpful.”

Dahl’s grocery employees are also taking more questions from customers, especially at the meat counter, said Mike Hoffman, Dahl’s meat director.

“Years ago, people just assumed their meat came from the Midwest,” he said. “Now we get a lot of people asking questions about where exactly the meat came from, how it was fed — grass or grain.”

He added: “People want to know. They don’t assume anymore