95% of supermarket food comes from agribusiness
Quality of Carrs/Safeway food is mediocre
By: Crystal Hutchens
Four companies control nearly half of all food sales in the United States. The largest six percent of farms control sixty percent of production. By supporting industrial agriculture, large corporations like Carrs/Safeway leave little room for small organic farmers and other eco-friendly smaller farms.
As of June 18, 2005, Safeway had 1,801 stores in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., most of these are located in Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, the Chicago metropolitan area and the Mid-Atlantic region. There are 35 Safeway stores in Alaska.
In an interview conducted for this paper, a former four-year Carrs/Safeway employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, claimed that in-store labeling is inaccurate and unclear. While Carrs does provide some local produce, especially in the summer months, much of the produce sold during the winter comes from third world countries like the Philippines, Chile and Mexico. Seafood also comes from Thailand as well as China. In these countries workers rights and environmental regulations are far more lax than in the United States.
Safeway has a network of distribution, manufacturing and food processing facilities and a 49% interest in Casa Ley, S.A. de C.V., which operates 115 food and general merchandise stores in Western Mexico. They also have a 54% ownership interest in GroceryWorks Holdings, Inc., an Internet Grocer. The Safeway.com website provides an extensive labeling requirement check list for would be suppliers, including, the country of origin labeling or C.O.O.L. system, but provides no list of their current suppliers.
Industrial agriculture
The food system is dominated by an industry that is altering American communities. In 1970 there were 900,000 farms in the U.S. The number in 1997 was 139,000. Fifty million pounds of antibiotics are produced in the U.S. yearly; twenty million are given to animals. It costs an estimated $30 billion annually to treat antibiotic resistant infections in the US. The estimated input to produce a pound of beef is 4.8 pounds of grain, 1/4 gallon of gasoline, and 390 gallons of water. The injury and illness rate among poultry processing workers compared to trades like coal mining and construction is almost double. Just under 30% of agricultural subsidies go to the top 2% of farms. Due to genetic manipulation 90% of broiler chickens have trouble walking. 80% of U.S. pigs are suffering from pneumonia at the time of slaughter. De-beaking is used to prevent chickens from attacking each other. As little as .6 square feet is allocated to each full grown chicken in a factory farm. 35,000 miles of rivers are polluted by hog, chicken, and cattle waste. 61 million tons of waste animal are produced annually in the US. (Source: Yes magazine, Summer, 2000.)
Prior to the age of industrial agriculture, or Agribusiness, people depended on natural ecosystems. Animals, crops, wildlife and people were interdependent. Manure, a byproduct of the animal that doubled as a fine natural fertilizer, was on hand as crops and animals were rotated through seasons and conditions. Industrial farming separates crop farming from livestock. Manure becomes a pollutant, and without animals to feed, farmers don’t bother to grow the animal foods (grass, clover, alfalfa) that rebuild the soil for future crops. In today’s system, fertilizer has to be mined or produced and shipped to where it’s needed, and animals are kept on concentrated feedlots where they routinely require antibiotics.
In the early 20th century consumers bought basic staples for home cooking. Most farm products were sold as commodities on the open market. Pushing large volumes through the supply chain kept costs down. As women entered the workforce and the number of two-wage families rose, so did the demand for quick and easy to prepare meals. About half of all U.S. food purchases today are for snacks and meals prepared by food service establishments. Thousands of new products are introduced each year, and retailers must decide what to make room for. Corporations like Safeway, with their huge buying power, can dictate what they want to the supplier. Instead of the farmer of days past who just brought his wares to market, farmers are now required to meet the requests of the system they cater to. Corporate agriculture demands uniformity and dependability in order to produce today’s meal in a box.
Questionable business practices
Information sharing is one of the techniques grocers use to make decisions on what to carry in the store. But large corporations can also have an impact on what choices the buyer actually makes. Many large chain grocers--like our own Carrs/Safeway--utilize a member’s club card. Such cards, when swiped through the company computer, collect valuable data that is used for marketing purposes. Some speculate that overall store prices are sometimes raised to make the card more appealing to consumers. Implementation programs, such as frequent flyer miles, are added incentive to ‘join the club.’ Personal information collected on the application, such as where you live, is valuable to the marketer as well. This information collection process is based on sales items, so the buyer becomes part of a vicious circle. Marketers collect information about what the consumer buys and offers up more of the same.
There are many other questionable business practices at Carrs/Safeway.
In April of 2004, it was reported that Safeway was selling unlabeled beef from Canada, which hadn’t banned the feeding practices associated with mad cow disease. The Consumer Federation of California said Safeway was selling the product around the time that the disease was detected in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The case, limited to a single cow, prompted officials to ban importation of Canadian beef. Safeway confirmed that it purchases small quantities of beef from Canada but that it conforms to federal regulations. Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said, “USDA allows for the importation of certain meat products from Canada. While we purchase only a small quantity of that product, all of it meets strict federal requirements for safety, wholesomeness and quality. Further, we fully comply with all state and federal labeling laws.” Richard Holober, a spokesman for the consumer group said, “We are not charging anyone with breaking the law. They are currently selling beef products we believe should be labeled a product of Canada so the consumer can be informed of what they are purchasing.”
A five month grocery strike led by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union ended in February of 2005. The Union leaders charged that employees, including clerks and cashiers, were forced to accept large pay cuts or no pay increases while new workers were brought in.
The former employee I spoke with told me that while the health benefits of Carrs/Safeway were good, holiday pay came only after two years of employment. To be considered for a management position, there is a hefty preference for a college background, while the company is not very lenient to those pursuing a college career while working at the store. Every employee must remain flexible and cannot have a guaranteed dependable schedule. There is a five minute tardy policy with a three warning system. After a verbal warning, and a second written warning, the third tardy results in dismissal, no matter the circumstances or how long the employee has been with the company.
My former employee source also claimed that the meat and seafood department don’t monitor their cooler system well enough, and perishable items left at the cashier station are not attended to well. Sometimes meat will sit for hours before being returned to the refrigerated area.
Safeway boasts about its environmental friendliness in its own literature: “Safeway has a continuing history of environmental responsibility, starting with cardboard recycling in 1960. Our environmental policy has included replacing ozone depleting CFC’s in our story refrigeration systems. In addition our customers have helped us recycle several million pounds of shopping bags.”
Despite this declaration, Safeway participates in an environmentally injurious system by selling farmed fish. Salmon farms are responsible for an increase in sea lice on wild salmon. Reports from the auditors-general of Canada, British Columbia and New Brunswick in October of 2004 state that “a series of federal and provincial investigations found that wild salmon stocks are at risk on both coasts and the government is failing to protect them.” The study reports that fish farming is adding sea lice to the environment that is 30,000 times higher than previously existed. Safeway executives convey that they continue to sell farmed fish because there is a consumer demand for it.
A rising number of consumers are concerned about environmental issues and the origin of their food. In “New Life at the Roots,” Yes Magazine, summer 2000, Carol Estes states that “Nine out of 10 consumers are concerned about food safety. A third are worried enough to buy organic (to the tune of $6 billion per year) and another 54% would if they could afford it. As a result, there are now 6,600 certified organic farms in the U.S. and 2,000 farmers markets, each with its own local flavor and specialties.” Organic food demand is rising faster than 20% each year, and there is a growing market for hormone- and antibiotic-free meat. A quick glance at the general health of our bodies, as well as the system that supports us, is all that’s needed to see why these changes have become an important option for some. th corporate grocery store concern focused on its own bottom line, it becomes the consumers’ responsibility to do the research involved in making informed choices.
Contact Crystal Hutchens at .