WAYS TO DEFEAT THE DECEIT
Buy whole foods. This is the number-one tip from Larry Olmsted,
author of Real Food, Fake Food. “You can’t be fooled buying a
whole Maine lobster, but your lobster bisque might well have
no lobster at all,” he said in an email. “The less you can see and
the more processed the food, the more room for adulteration.”
For example, avoid any additives in ground coffee by buying
whole coffee beans, he said. Buy Parmesan whole and grate
it yourself. Wheels of cheese don’t use cellulose. (Or if you
insist on grated, check the label to be sure there’s no cellulose.)
Opting for foods closer to their natural forms will almost cer-
tainly taste better and save you money while you’re at it, since
you’re doing the “processing” (grinding the beans, grating the
cheese) yourself.
Buy from retailers committed to authenticating their products. Block-
chain technology, a kind of massive online ledger, is being used
by more and more retailers and food companies—Walmart,
Kroger, and Wegmans, and Dole, Nestlé, Unilever, and Tyson
Foods, to name a few. It allows them to track and verify the
point of origin and production methods used along the food
supply chain. This technology can help improve food safety,
too, because of the ability to more rapidly and precisely trace
a food to its source. Blockchain or not, you may soon see scan-
nable QR codes or apps that offer consumers a new level of
traceability. In the meantime, ask grocers and producers
directly or consult their websites to learn how, if at all, they
are using these tools and others to ensure your food is real.
Get your fish from top-ranked grocers. Each year, Greenpeace re-
leases a retailer scorecard, “Carting Away the Oceans,” that
rates sustainable seafood across standards for both wild and
farm-raised products; the extent to which a retailer actively
helps improve fisheries and bodies of water it sources from;Stuff That comes from animals 87Conscious Eater_02 PT_4th patches.indd 87 10/23/19 1:31 PM