Letters to the editor
Letters must be 250 words or less and include a name and hometown. Submission of letter grants automatic approval of publication to PCC, including name, in print and online. Submission does not guarantee publication. PCC reserves the right to edit content of submissions. Please email letters to editor@pccmarkets.com.
Remarks from readers
Dear PCC,
Thanks so much for the recent insert in the fall edition of the Sound Consumer, “70 Years of Feeding Community: Recipes and Stories from our Co-op.” Being a member since the late ‘80s, I am familiar with a lot of the people that were highlighted and it was interesting to learn how they all fit together in the history of PCC. And all those wonderful recipes! Thanks so much.
— Christine Sannella
Mushrooms and chocolate
Hello,
I just finished reading your Fall Sound Consumer from cover to cover. All of the articles are so well worth my reading time. I especially appreciated the extensive piece on mushrooms, which my husband and I LOVE!
The letter that caught my eye though, was the one about compostable chocolate wrappers. I immediately went to the garbage and retrieved all of my wrappers and placed them in my compost bucket. Seattle Chocolates are one of my faves. Thank you Seattle Chocolates, and thank you PCC for carrying them.
— Mary & Giff Jones
(member since 1984)
PCC responds: Thank you all for reading Sound Consumer, for your kind words and for your long PCC memberships! We are fans of both mushrooms and Seattle Chocolates, too.
Chickens and eggs
I am curious if PCC and organic standards allow the poultry that you sell to be washed in chlorine?
Also, I noticed that PCC private label eggs have very pale yellow egg yolks compared to other pastured free range brands. How does the yolk color reflect quality of the eggs?
Thank you!
— Ana Wilson
PCC replies: Thanks so much for writing and for your questions.
PCC’s suppliers do not use chlorine washes on their chicken. Pitman Farms, the supplier of our PCC private label chicken, uses an organic vinegar solution.
However, chlorine washing is a common practice in the U.S., allowed by both U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified organic poultry regulations and regulations governing conventional poultry. Used after slaughter and before packaging, the intent is to remove contaminants that can cause food-borne illnesses such as salmonella and listeria. Some recent studies do question their effectiveness, among other concerns, but for now they remain the standard practice. One reason our suppliers don’t use this practice is because their chickens are air chilled after slaughter, rather than submerged in cold water that would contain chlorinated substances.
Yolk color is generally a reflection of the pigments in a hen’s feed rather than a sign of quality or nutrition. The Organic Valley co-op noted in an article on the topic that “Because most consumers in the United States prefer gold or lemon-colored yolks, yellow-orange enhancements may be added to light-colored feeds to darken the yolk’s color. For certified organic eggs, like ours, these supplements have to be organic-approved and usually come from nature, such as marigold petals.”
More information on both PCC’s poultry standards and egg standards are online here.
Non-GMO products
Is the beet sugar in the Olbas Black Currant Lozenges non-GMO? It doesn’t list it on the packaging.
PCC replies: Good question! Yes, the beet sugar (ISOMALT) in Olbas Lozenges is non-GMO, according to the company. This product is manufactured in the European Union (EU). Since there are no GMOs allowed in most EU member states, the labeling is only required if GMOs are present.
Additionally, PCC has been a strong advocate for genetically engineered food and ingredient transparency for many years. In 2020, PCC joined the Center for Food Safety in a lawsuit against the USDA over the National Bioengineering Food Disclosure Standard on the grounds that it sets restrictive labeling rules for retailers and doesn’t provide sufficient transparency for consumers.
Plastic containers
I am concerned about the amount of plastic that is being used today. As of today, 14 millions tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. It is on the beaches and sea animals ingest it, thus it ends up in the fish we eat.
PCC is my favorite place to shop. I believe that PCC should be a leader in using less plastic. I took a stroll through the store. In the dairy case I saw many kinds of milk in plastic containers. I was surprised to see PCC milk in plastic. Only the goat milk was in a paper carton (the kind I buy). There were many kinds of yogurt in plastic containers. Bulgarian yogurt was in a glass jar (the kind I buy). There were at least four kinds of Kefir and only Nancy’s Kefir was in a paper carton (the kind I buy). Many brands of juice were in plastic. Adult beverages such as wine and beer come in glass, however so many beverages that our children drink are in plastic.
Many shoppers do not realize the harm that plastic does and that any food should not be in plastic.
I am hoping that you will urge the vendors to make some changes to avoid plastic.
Thank you,
— Donna Myhre
Plastic clamshells
I read the article on plastic-free July in the summer Sound Consumer and would like to again suggest that PCC stop selling produce in plastic clamshell containers. We bought lettuce and strawberries for many decades without plastic containers and the PCC can exercise its strength by requiring suppliers to find alternatives. It pains me to see so much unnecessary plastic in the produce section.
— Sheila Farr
PCC replies: Thank you both for your comments regarding the environmental impacts of plastic and its usage in our stores. We share your frustrations and concerns.
On produce clamshells, PCC has been working for years on reducing the packaging in produce. While it does take time, we have seen improvements. Strawberries, snap peas, cherry tomatoes and potatoes all now use either smaller amount of plastic than before or a plastic-free container. We have made a commitment to support any product that comes in a more sustainable package by procuring it and also giving feedback to the supplier to make it more customer-friendly. For produce that is delivered to PCC in plastic containers, we will soon be working with a local vendor to return and repurpose that packaging.
On other plastic containers, we would like to share some of the positive changes we have made, though we agree there is always more work to be done.
In 2022 we expanded our plastic water bottle ban by discontinuing the sale of plastic bottled water sized below 1 gallon, which will eliminate the sale of roughly 100,000 single-use plastic bottles a year. We’re providing more sustainable options such as bulk water, boxed water, and water in glass and aluminum. We are also working to roll out more bulk health and body care products (e.g., shampoo, dish soaps and a new liquid hand soap) in our stores. We’re currently phasing in the elimination of full plastic wraps on our supplement bottles and replacing that with just a small safety band around the lid.
We continue to invest significant advocacy efforts into changing regulatory and policy hurdles that have prevented some alternatives and we have supported major local, state and national legislative initiatives to reduce plastic.
Many categories like yogurt, single serve drinks, milk and juice are heavily dependent on plastic packaging. Changing the natural food industry’s deeply ingrained dependency on plastic packaging is a complex undertaking, one that is continually evolving, but we are committed on all fronts to identifying more sustainable solutions and pushing the supply chain to do the same.
PCC’s Purpose Report also offers information about many of our initiatives.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns and suggestions with us. This helps us better understand what is important to our customers and informs the steps we need to take to reduce our impact on the environment.
Palm oil
Hi, I’m learning more about sustainable palm oil. I’m curious if PCC is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (SPO) or something similar (I know some memberships/certifications like that can be cost prohibitive for smaller businesses). If not, what are PCC’s plans for ensuring all the products you carry use only SPO? If you already have a recent article written on this, I’m happy for a link to that so you don’t need to spend more time writing a response for me. Thanks for all the good you do!
— Happy PCC member and customer
PCC replies: Thanks for writing in to ask about palm oil, and for your kind words. We have indeed created a standard for Palm Oil in our stores and we partner with Palm Done Right for our sourcing. This link will take you to our full Palm Oil Standard and FAQ. We are happy to answer any other questions on the standard.