Quality Food -- Is it taste, nutrition, freshness, safety or appearance?

What is quality?

One of the frequent challenges in growing produce for our customers is to judge whether a given piece or batch of a product is of adequate quality to go in our CSA share boxes. One of the “rubs” is whether produce with blemishes should be included in shares, or not....

There are several food quality markers that compete for priority in the U.S. market. I think of values such as appearance, safety (purity), freshness, nutrition and taste.

Without a doubt, appearance ranks high in the supermarket. Food sold there must be of uniform size, appealing color, free of blemishes, and attractively packaged. So much so, that oranges sold in the supermarket have often been painted to deepen their orange color!

I think all eaters would agree that safe food is another major value. We would like to be able to assume that our food is free of dangerous substances or bacteria that could cause illness. Clearly, recent events have shown that food safety can not always be taken for granted. Even the humble spinach has been the source of bacterial poisoning outbreaks. (Interestingly, the government allows consumers to buy and eat both raw spinach and raw oysters, and does not first require that they be “pasteurized” before being sold – but I digress.)

Consumers have been slow to recognize that chemical contamination of food (with low levels of pesticide or other residues), while much more insidious than bacterial contamination, may represent an even more important health risk in the long term. To give some perspective, I have read that “Chilean grapes” available in the stores during the winter have, on average, 4 times the pesticide residue of grapes sold in-season, grown in this country. Unfortunately, most of these details are simply not available to the average consumer. This is a strong argument for buying chemical-free or organic foods.

Another food value is “freshness,” closely tied to a related value, “flavor.” Many foods just taste and look better if eaten fresh. As a kid, I thought asparagus was absolutely disgusting. I don't think I ate any asparagus except out of a can, until I visited Rita's family and ate fresh asparagus from their garden – a very different food experience!

Today, many (even most) foods travel hundreds and thousands of miles before arriving at our table. As a result, produce is often harvested at an unripe stage, and sometimes (in the case of tomatoes) even subjected to chemical treatment to ensure “ripening.” In terms of flavor, most of us have eaten cafeteria tomatoes with a pale pink color, and the texture and taste of plastic! The travesty is that this is often the case even when fresh local tomatoes are in season at the local farmers' market!

Many consumers are not aware that even the varieties grown for mass transportation and marketing, are chosen for their ability to handle long delays after harvest, and the extra handling and jostling that transportation requires. In other words, varieties must be “tough” more than “tender and flavorful.” The opposite is generally true when you buy varieties sold by local growers.

Nutrition is a tricky value to work with, depending on what we consider most important. In this day of abundant food, vitamins and minerals are in plentiful supply, and are often added to our foods (such as cereals and milk). But what about “negative nutrients,” such as simple sugars and high-fructose corn syrup? Many supposedly “nutritious” cereals, for example, are overloaded with these sugars, leading to significant negative health consequences.

Also, fresh whole foods arguably may provide more ultimate nutritional benefit than foods supplemented with individual chemical nutrients. From a health nutrition viewpoint, I think Michael Pollan is right when he advises against choosing foods with more than a few listed ingredients! His 2009 book In Defense of Food is an excellent exploration of these issues.

I could go on to include other values that are unfamiliar to most consumers, such as local vs. long-distance, embedded petroleum energy and “carbon footprint,” food justice (“fair trade” issues impacting the growers), and purchasing patterns that directly benefit local small farmers and artisans. But this article is getting too long, and that would be “preaching to the choir” anyway, at least for most of our Sunny Slope Farm customers!

So, back to the original question: What about appearance? Clearly, as growers, we at Sunny Slope Farm put a high priority on safety (chemical-free and grown carefully to avoid contamination with harmful germs). We also value taste, nutrition and freshness, all common features when you choose locally grown produce. But how important is appearance? When 50% of a batch of green beans have little blemishes from being “munched on” by competing 6-legged consumers, do those beans go in CSA shares or not?

Let me say that appearance is important to us! Typically, 70-80% of what we harvest is suitable for our share standards. But this is variable. Once in awhile, the “munchers” have carried the day, and we must decide whether to include any of that product, with blemishes, or just forego it completely. Sometimes, Rita and I disagree on this one. I tend to put more weight on the fact that blemished produce is still safe, flavorful, and nutritious. But, often we send out the (relatively) unblemished produce, while we get to enjoy a generous supply of the “seconds”, which suits us fine! We're sure that occasionally blemished produce gets past us and into boxes, and we apologize if that happens (and welcome your feedback to bring this to our attention).

But, at the end of the day, when it comes to defining quality, contrary to the mass market, we at Sunny Slope Farm will put appearance as a secondary priority, ensuring that safety and flavor remain our highest goals.