More people want to know source of food

In one of the Wendy’s commercials currently appearing on television, the camera pans across a pristine Arctic scene of ice floes and snow-covered mountains.

“Everybody knows: If you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it,“ a woman’s voice says, opening the ad. “North Pacific cod. Hand-cut and panko-breaded. It’s not mystery fish.“

At McDonald’s Web site, people are encouraged to click over food, including a hamburger, to get “straight answers to your questions about our beef.“

“100% pure beef. 0% anything else,“ the screen reads. “See what we’re made of.“

Have the angels of ethical eating touched fast food? Some fast-food companies seem to be trying to get beyond their batter-dipped, frozen-and-fried image these days by jumping on the natural, whole-foods bandwagon.

Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co., a restaurant-consulting company based in New York, listed ethical eating among the company’s predictions for 2008 dining trends. Ethical eating was on that list in 2007, too.

Wendy’s premium fish sandwich is playing into customer expectations of more luxurious food, said Bob Bertini, a spokesman for Wendy’s. “People are much more well-traveled. They appreciate higher-quality options.“

More and more consumers also want to know where their food comes from, too, experts say, and that’s not just a fad. Just as people became more interested in the calorie and fat content of food, now they are more interested in how animals and produce were raised and harvested or slaughtered.

Such food-supply scares as the 143 million pounds of beef that the U.S. Department of Agricultural recalled in February from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. have only added to interest.

No mysteries.

“It used to be about the taste of food, and now it’s about the taste and the content,“ said Sheri Bridges, a marketing professor at Wake Forest University. “We want to control the total healthiness that we consume in an entire day.

“People don’t want mysteries in their food anymore,“ Bridges said. “It’s this option of processing and how close to nature the foods are, how many processing plants have they visited on their way up the food chain.

“I think anytime you have Wal-Mart announce that it is going to start carrying organic foods you realize that this isn’t a niche in the marketplace,“ she said.

Customers seem to be left largely in the dark, though, when it comes to judging.

A company’s virtuous claims for themselves.

Right now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of “natural” meat and dairy products is that they are minimally processed with no artificial flavors or colors, synthetic ingredients or chemical preservatives. That only applies to animals after slaughter, though, not how they are treated or raised beforehand. “Organic” is much better defined, with specific USDA production guidelines.

The USDA and the Food and Drug Administration are working on new guidelines. The USDA’s proposal would create a voluntary label for meat from animals that haven’t been fed animal byproducts. It wouldn’t speak to animals’ living conditions.

Fresh and natural.

“Natural” means different things to different fast-food companies, too.

At Arby’s, a line of chicken sandwiches are “natural” because they are not injected with “salt, water or phosphates,“ according to the company’s Web site.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, a burrito and taco chain that has long touted the quality of its ingredients, says that all of its restaurant serve naturally raised pork. The company defines “naturally raised” as antibiotic-free, raised on vegetarian feed and on farms with open space, such as pastures or deeply bedded pens.

About half of Chipotle’s restaurants serve beef and about 80 percent serve chicken raised under similar guidelines, the company says, and names some of its suppliers on its Web site.

“I think a majority of customers don’t know that we do it,“ said Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle. “They’re starting to. They’re becoming more interested in sustainable issues across the board. But we didn’t do it because people were asking for it, we did it because we thought it was the right thing to do. I think the unfortunate thing is you’re seeing a lot of companies ... advertise things fresh and natural when they are not.“

Bertini said that Wendy’s new fish sandwich - an upgrade from fish sandwiches of the past once available at some of the chain’s restaurants - is made from cod caught by fisherman in the North Pacific Ocean but did not name suppliers. An earlier version of Wendy’s fish sandwich was made of a mix of North Pacific and Atlantic cod, he said. Pacific-cod fisheries are generally sustainable, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood WATCH Web site; Atlantic cod has been overfished and should be avoided.

Large, fast-food companies, particularly McDonald’s, have pull among suppliers and sources, said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University and the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. “They can ask companies to produce things,“ she said.

“This cannot just be talking. It has to be walking too,“ Bridges said. “They will get caught. It’s too dangerous for companies to say and not do.“

But fast-food chains are also using increased awareness of food sources and quality to get new customers, Nestle warned. “Their core audience can go only go so far;... Their purpose as a company is to sell more food, not less.“

Natural and organic.

Definitions of natural and organic meat, poultry and related products:

SBlt NATURAL: Food containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed in a way which does not “fundamentally alter the raw product,“ according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The label must explain the term “natural” (For example, “no added colorings or artificial ingredients”).

SBlt ORGANIC: Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products are from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. “Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation,“ the USDA says.

With the exception of poultry and some dairy herds, organic meat and animal products must come from animals born to mothers cared for under organic standards for at least the last third of the gestation period. Farmers must use 100 percent organic feed and may not give organically raised animals hormones or antibiotics. All organically raised animals must have access to the outdoors, including pasture.

“Certified organic” means that a product is grown on a farm that has been visited by government inspectors to make sure that it meets certain standards. Organic foods must contain at least 95 percent organically produced raw or processed agricultural product.

“Made with organic ingredients” must contain between 95 percent and 70 percent organically produced food.