As a producer, purveyor, and consumer of food I take seriously the effect of my food choices on the environment, the community, the economy, and the welfare of animals and workers. Many of my family’s food values are shared with the VFC mission statement and that is one of the reasons I feel good about working here at the Co-op.
As members of the VFC I assume that you, too, share some of these values.We all want our children to inherit a livable planet and a livable society.The choices we make about the food we eat are crucial to the construction of a just and humane society and the maintenance of the planet that sustains us. Some of the choices that we make are easy.We don’t buy produce that is slathered in pesticides because we know that it is bad for the farmers and laborers who grow and process it, it is bad for the people who consume it and it is ultimately bad for the earth it was taken from.We don’t buy cage-raised meat because it is disrespectful to the animal that gives its life to nourish us, and therefore disrespectful to our own humanity.These choices are easy.
But not all choices are this black and white and eating seafood in a place that is thousands of miles from the nearest ocean is one of them.
The benefits of seafood are many and well-known. Seafood is extremely high in protein yet almost universally low in fat. Fish oils, loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, are among the healthiest naturally occurring food substances known to man and have been found to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, boost the immune system, and even act as an anti-inflammatory agent.
But the consumption of seafood is fraught with many ethical pitfalls, particularly in Wisconsin. But there are things we can do to decrease the negative impact of our seafood consumption.
The most obvious dilemma surrounding seafood is the distance it must travel to arrive in desperately landlocked Viroqua, Wisconsin. The Alaskan salmon that arrives here every week has traveled over 3000 miles on its journey, through the air and overland, consuming resources as it goes.This environmental cost is not, nor should it be, externalized; but is passed on to the consumer in higher prices. Even the farmed U.S. Catfish or Gulf Shrimp travels almost 1000 miles.The truth is there is really not much we can do about this besides wait for another great flood. But we do offer a localalternative raised 12.88 miles away in LaFarge, Wisconsin. Fresh local trout arrives every week from the Trout Palace and offers a local fish alternative to ocean fish.
Distance is not the only thing we must deal with. Though over two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered with water the ocean ecosystem is a delicate one and has unfortunately been seriously disrupted by the seafood industry. Pollution, hundreds of years of reckless harvesting, and now global warming are all having an effect on many ocean populations. Some species have been hit harder than others. Alaskan salmon are well-managed and thriving whereas their Atlantic brethren are decimated.
Every week I painstakingly research the fish that I purchase for sale. There are seemingly countless factors to consider in determining whether or not a fish is ethically “clean.” Some species have a lower environmental impact when caught wild, other species are better if farmed. But it only gets more complicated. Some fishing methods devastate the environment and others have a lower impact. Fish caught off the coast of Russia is radically different in method of catch, processing, and labor issues than fish caught off the coast of Alaska only a couple hundred miles away. Some farming methods are terrible for the environment others leave almost no footprint at all, not to mention the controversy surrounding “organic” aquaculture. Two fish from the same species, depending on where they come from and how they are caught or raised, can carry ethical baggage of radically different weights. In this case, no two salmon are ever alike.
I do this research so that you don’t have to; I want our customers to feel good about what they buy from the meat department but I don’t want them to stop thinking about it. We shouldn’t live in a fantasy, there is no perfect fish and all food that we eat, from zucchini to albacore, has some environmental impact. Being aware of that impact is the first step to making it smaller.
Matt Voz,
Meat and Seafood Buyer
Some websites I have found to help make you a more educated consumer of seafood:
Kidsafe Seafood- http://www.kidsafeseafood.org - Helpful information on the mercury levels of many different species of seafood.
Blue Ocean Institute - http://www.blueocean.org/Seafood - A very exhaustive species-by-species overview
Seafood Choices Alliance -http://www.seafoodchoices.com – Another great resource to help you make informed decisions.