Where We're Going, Where We've Been

Hello readers,

This post will give you an update on the new committee members and where the committee is moving forward!

Meet & Greet Information Sessions:

First of all, thank you to everyone who came out to the information sessions regarding the Animal Welfare Committee hosted at the PSFC in our Meeting Room.  It was great to be able to share our information and hear what you wanted to learn including which parts of animal welfare practices or standards are most confusing or concerning to you.  Kama and I were very glad to have met you all!  (So much so that I did one of these presentations on my birthday.)

Meg, @ Farm Sanctuary

(2004 beef cattle rescue)

What we heard at the July info sessions: 

• You’d like concise and easy-to-read information on food, personal care and household items
• Some people like the “negative message” shelf labeling idea (“This product is tested on animals”) and some like the “positive message” shelf labeling idea (“This product is not tested on animals”) so we’ll need to poll the greater membership AND speak to staff about what is logistically possible given our shelf space
• Most of the terms involving farm animal welfare are confusing to folks - you want to know what they really mean
• You want to know why we don’t have more humane certifications on farm animal products
• You want to know more about the farms that the co-op works with
• You want a list of “contains no animal products” items at the co-op, preferably labeled on the shelf price sticker so you don’t have to stand in the aisles reading ingredients (and you want to know definitions for the technical names of some animal products that have shown up in some on ingredients lists because they’re often not recognizable as animal products to you)

Squad Membership:

The end of July (right after those info sessions) was the deadline for applications to the committee.  We received a good number of engaged and qualified applicant submissions and chose candidates based on the skill sets and qualities we outlined previously.  

We’re very happy to announce that we’ve brought on the following folks after reviewing the applications and speaking with the applicants (alphabetically listed):

Deb

Jeff

Maya

Piper

Tamar

Tess

First Meeting Update:

We recently had our first squad meeting in August with the new committee members.  We assigned folks to sub-committees (animal testing, farm animal or general) and outlined some next steps.  (We won’t bore you with the meeting structure, attendance reporting, meeting notes, meeting facilitator stuff.)

For the Animal Testing Issues Team, we’ll:

1. Revisit the household and personal care inventory in aisles 4 and 5 against the current Info Spreadsheet we have for you
2. Reach out to buyers for personal care and household items

For the Farm Animal Welfare Team, we’ll:

1. Collect, share and consolidate data re farm animal welfare in time for next meeting’s discussion regarding appropriate resources to use/cite
2. Reach out to buyers of meat and eggs

So far we’re focusing on farm animal meat and eggs to start out with but dairy, fish and pet food will follow.  (Yes, the pet food is also mostly meat but the difference is that PSFC doesn’t have a direct buyer relationship with the farm the way it does with the farm animal meat items we sell for human consumption so it’s one step removed, unfortunately.)

We have many many many next steps – not the least of it being figuring out how to concisely but effectively get our research information back out to you, the membership, in ways you’ll actually notice in on the shopping floor.  Please add this blog to your rss reader, sign up for the newsletter via the subscription box to the right or just check back in here to see what we’re up to!

Jesse on behalf of The Animal Welfare Committee