The Five Pound Dilemma

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It all started when…

In 2008, we attended a seminar held by a talented physician who presented the details of an emerging problem - the very serious issue with antibiotic resistance infections due to the unprecedented levels of antibiotics in our livestock.  To illustrate, the speaker proceeded to dump a 5 pound bag of flour as representation of the amount of antibiotics which any child born in the year 2000 or later would consume in their lifetime if they continued to consume commercial beef raised on a diet of growth-promoting antibiotics (feed, water, injections, etc.).

As a school food reform consultant -  working with several different school lunch programs, I knew that the USDA commodity beef our students were consuming - in tacos, meat sauces, patties and however else we find beef on the tray - was the beef at the center of the physician's lecture. 

A Scarlet O'Hara moment, raised fists and all, I vowed that I would do something about this and set out to find that product.  And, while I was at it I questioned why we couldn't source beef close to home?  New York has beautiful pasture throughout the state and beef shouldn't be difficult to source. It became apparent that grass fed ground beef would be too expensive for schools and commercial, boxed beef was from the very source where the commodity originated.

So we started speaking with farmers and processors and we found a way to begin producing it ourselves.  We produced our first pound of beef in 2011.  We would never have done it without the support and generosity of a few farmers who raises their cattle on local grains without any growth-promoting antibiotics or hormones. The farmers and the processors who believed in "the cause" helped us make it happen. Today we process over 5,000 pounds a month and our orders for next year are increasing daily.

What began with just one district and a business official who insisted that we make it work,  we have now delivered to over 15 districts throughout the state with procurement through sole sourcing or competitive bid awards.