How the CFIA defines “local”, “natural”

Remember the story that was in the news April 2nd about that Alliston gourmet burger restaurant that ran afoul of the CFIA when someone apparently complained that their “advertised as local” burgers weren’t local enough. How was local described there?

“The CFIA has told him the term local can only be used if the product was manufactured, packaged or processed in the municipality where his business is located or its neighbouring municipalities, which in this case includes Adjala-Tosorontio, Essa, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Innisfil, King and Caledon….”

Doesn’t sound like a very definitive definition, does it? Not exactly something you could apply to any other situation or locality. Well now, at least, we’ve got a better definition from the CFIA. And it’s a very strict definition.

Setting the record straight on the economics of local organic farming

From Lindsey Lusher Shute on TakePart.com:

Future local organic farmers of America? The 2012 crew at Lindsey Lusher Shute’s New York farm. (Photo: Hearty Roots Community Farm) via TakePart.com

“In the past year, the mainstream media featured more than a few stories critiquing America’s local and organic foods movement. The New York Times and others swallowed the findings of a Stanford study debating the value of organic foods hook, line and sinker; Time and Dr. Oz declared, “Organic food is great, it’s just not very democratic”; and NPR recently reported that growing local food doesn’t pay.

CFIA threatens Alliston restaurant over “local” and “natural” ingredient claims

Let’s hope the story helps advertise this restaurant! We need more eateries like this. Next time you’re near Alliston, do drop in and check the place out.

From Brad Pritchard at the Alliston Herald, via Inside Toronto.com:

Jay Klausen holds up a Canadian Food Inspection Agency map outlining what it considers to be the local boundaries. Photo: Brad Pritchard

ALLISTON – The chef and co-owner of a popular Alliston gourmet fast food restaurant says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is unfairly scrutinizing his business after being told to remove references saying they serve locally sourced products and naturally raised beef.

“Basically they are telling us if something comes from Barrie it’s not local, if something comes from Shelburne it’s not local,” said the Bistro Burger Joint’s Jay Klausen.

Klausen said he was completely blown away after receiving a registered letter from the Barrie branch of the CFIA and after speaking to an investigator about their demands.

Controversial Toronto backyard chicken “farmers” still waiting for the sky to fall

From David Rider, in the Toronto Star:

Trish Tervit holds Pippi, one of her pet hens. Tervit got into backyard chicken farmng as a fun educational exercise for her daughters, and loves the fresh eggs. ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE/TORONTO STAR. Click image to go to the Toronto Star story.

“Trish Tervit is a friendly mom, an executive with a buzzing iPhone and an outlaw urban farmer collecting eggs on borrowed time.

Her hens — Pippi, Mabel and Elli — peer through a sliding-glass door, schnauzer-like, into Tervit’s Upper Beach semi-detached home.

“I blame my daughter’s Grade 6 teacher,” who brought cute chicks to class, triggering the inevitable “Can we get chickens?” plea from both of Tervit’s daughters.

“Mr. Barbara Kingsolver” finds local food is a tough sell in rural Virginia

From Jane Black in the New York Times:

Steven Hopp began a small farm to help supply his restaurant, the Harvest Table, in Meadowview, Virginia Photo: Shawn Poynter for The New York Times. Click image to go to the NY Times story.

“WHEN Steven Hopp envisioned his restaurant, the Harvest Table, he drew up a list of strict rules. Local farmers would provide the produce, meats and cheeses. Lemons would be banned: after all, why ship something that is mostly water when homegrown lemon thyme might suffice? Coffee and tea would be allowed because they are dried, but they should be organic, fair trade or both.

That philosophy grew out of his own experience. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Hopp and his wife, the author Barbara Kingsolver, decided to see if their family could rely on the food they grew here in the hills of southwest Virginia. Their 2007 best seller, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” a memoir about their experiment, helped introduce Americans to the locavore creed.

Learning from how Cuba’s farming adapted to the end of Soviet support

From Russ, on his “Volatility” blog:

“Cuba’s “Special Period” has been the time since the collapse of the Soviet Union forced it upon the path of food self-sufficiency with minimal fossil fuel inputs.

Cuba had previously exported sugar and other products to the USSR in exchange for heavily subsidized oil (the USSR carried Cuba for political reasons). Cuba responded by adhering to the Stalinist/Green Revolution corporate agricultural model of commodified monoculture, its production maximized by heavy fossil fuel inputs.

Now the oil binge was over. There would be no more cash crop exports in return for oil and heavy machinery. Cuba had to figure out how to feed itself without oil or starve.

Got (raw) milk? — disconnect grows between government and the people

From Fredericksburg.com:

Morgan the cow on Capitol hill in Washington D.C. during recent protest. Photo via Overoll.com

“AMERICA, sleep well. After a year of surveillance, an undercover operation, and a pre-dawn raid by gun-toting U.S. marshals, the country is safe from an Amish farmer. Dan Allgyer’s crime? Selling unpasteurized milk to a food co-op in the Washington area.

But raw-milk advocates, the feds are learning, do not go down easily. About 400 people protesting Mr. Allgyer’s arrest arrived on Capitol Hill earlier this month with a cow named Morgan, a milking stool, plastic cups, and plenty of passion. Toasting their favorite drink, they pointed out that the signers of the Constitution also drank raw milk and proclaimed “the right to choose what to eat and drink” without government interference.

Backyard Chicken-keeping in Toronto

From “Update on Toronto Chicken Law” blog:

There is finally a feeling of optimism among chicken-keepers and chicken-supporters on the issue of legalizing backyard hens in the City of Toronto.

It is important to understand how the process of changing a bylaw works, and thus the chart. Right now the chicken file is in the Policy Development phase. The next step is a written report. Once the report is written, it will go to one of the Committees, likely the Licensing and Standards Committee. The Committee can then recommend, amend or reject the proposal (50% vote in favour is required).

Another Maine town, Blue Hill, passes a local food self-governance ordinance

From Food Freedom blog:

Innocent appearances belie this town's role in the food rights revolution. Saltbox houses cascade down to the water's edge at the harbor at Blue Hill Peninsula. Photo: Maine Office of Tourism

“On Saturday, April 2, Blue Hill became the third town in Maine to adopt the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance.  The Ordinance was passed at Blue Hill’s town meeting by a near unanimous vote. This comes on the heels of the unanimous passage of the Ordinance in neighboring towns, Sedgwick and Penobscot, on March 5 and March 7, respectively. The Ordinance asserts that towns can determine their own food and farming policies locally, and exempts direct food sales from state and federal license and inspection requirements.

Lunatic farmer Joel Salatin in B.C.

From Randy Shore at the Vancouver Sun:

Farmer Joel Salatin spoke to a Vancouver audience last month. Photo via Vancouver Sun.

While the world reels from global oil shock and rising food prices, the time is ripe to revolutionize the way we produce food and local food systems, according to evangelizing farmer Joel Salatin.

Dubbed the High Priest of the Pasture by the New York Times, Salatin says the notion that local food is the sole province of foodies and the rich is outdated and possibly dangerous to our survival.