A Great Night for a Great Cause

If you live in Chester, Essex or Deep River and have children in the school system, you may be interested in an upcoming picnic-style farm dinner to benefit a new healthy lunch initiative in the schools of the Region 4 School District.

Region 4, which district comprises the three towns, already made great strides in its mission to serve healthier foods in the district when it hired Chef Thomas Peterlik as its Director of Food Services in 2010. Chef Peterlik, who is a part of the Local Beet community and former board member, comes to Region 4 with extensive food services experience. He previously served as Culinary Director of Yale University's food services and holds degrees from Cornell University and the Culinary Institute of Austria.

The new Director of Food Services has already implemented several meaningful changes in the region's school lunch menus, yet there is more to do. The issue comes down to budgetary considerations, as so often is the case. So Region 4 has teamed up with the Local Beet's Chester Village neighbor, River Tavern Restaurant, to create the Get Fresh 4 School picnic fundraiser on Saturday, June 9th, from 4:30 to 8:30. Rain date is the next day, same time. The event will benefit Region 4's efforts to bring better quality foods into our school cafeterias.

Come out and show your support of this great cause by enjoying a farm fresh, local meal served by the same people who bring fabulous open-air Dinners at the Farm every summer. Tickets for the benefit are $25 per person, and children are free.  All proceeds from the picnic will go to Region 4’s new Get Fresh 4 School healthy food program. For more on the event and what Region 4 hopes to accomplish, see the Valley News Now article of May 24, 2012.

GMO Labeling Act Removed from HB5117

In an unfortunate turn of events, it seems an integral section of Connecticut bill HB 5117, scheduled today to be brought before legislators for debate and an historic vote, was pulled from the bill at large last night. The act removed was Section 2, a piece of legislature that would have mandated labeling of food products containing genetically modified products in the State of Connecticut.

You can voice your concerns by calling Governor Malloy's office (860-566-4840 or 800-406-1527) or posting on Governor Malloy's Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/GovMalloyOffice.  You can also e-mail your thoughts at http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/view.asp?a=3998&q=479082 or Tweet: @govmalloyoffice.

While we may not have control over what happens with the State Legislature, we always have the ability to vote with our forks.  At the Local Beet, we make every effort to provide products that do not contain GMOs and will continue to do so. You can also make informed decisions about products containing GMOs by visiting these two websites:  www.nongmoshoppingguide.com and  www.nongmoproject.org.

Support Our Right to Know re: GMOs

An important bill under consideration, HB 5117, supports Connecticut residents' right to know if foods we buy contain genetically modified ingredients (GMOs).  Specifically, the bill requires labeling on all such products, including any of the five major crops that are known to be processed genetically:  soy, corn, canola, cotton and sugar beets.

Today in our country about 80% of processed foods contain one or more GMO ingredients.  Currently no laws exist to require manufacturers to disclose that information on food labels.  GMO ingredients are many and include aspartame, baking soda, caramel color, corn flour, corn sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, protein, lecithin, malt, maltodextrin, sorbitol, sugar, soy sauce, soy lecithin, vitamin E, vitamin B12, and xanthum gum.  Currently there are 50 countries around the world who have already put GMO disclosure legislation in place. 

Protect your right to make an informed choice by signing Change.org's petition.  They are already at almost 8,000 signatures and close to meeting their goal of 10,000.  You can sign the petition here.

To find out more about GMOs, go to www.nongmoproject.org.