Sound Consumer

Eating healthy food, grown locally. Supporting our local economy. Wasting less. Those are likely the watchwords of a PCC member, but they’re also the tenets of Seattle’s Food Action Plan.

Now that I-522, the state initiative to label genetically engineered foods, failed to pass, what’s next? Certainly, efforts for national labeling continue, as do other state legislative and initiative efforts.

Fewer U.S. food companies are willing to fund the fight against labeling genetically engineered foods. Several large companies that helped defeat California’s labeling initiative in 2012 chose to sit out the I-522 campaign without donating a dollar.

These wintry dishes are made warm and hearty with wine. Try PCC’s new, exclusive “Way Out West” Roosevelt Red and Roll on Columbia Chardonnay.

In the 1970s, Northwest farmers ripped out dessert-apple trees to plant higher value wine grapes. The re-surging popularity of hard ciders is leading to a small shift in that trend, and providing a market for blemished and undersized apples.

We Northwesterners sure are lucky. Not only do we live in a place abundant with organic, heirloom apples, but it’s also a hotspot for turning those apples into delicious, artisan hard ciders.

Thankful for PCC · Organic almonds · Carrageenan · Recycling bags · Soy in the deli · Non-GMO Project Verified · IGF-1 in GE salmon · Salmonella in spices · Rennet in cheese · Great service

LA considers banning GE · Nut thefts continue · Modern wheat different? · “Camel of crops” gains popularity · B.C. sardine fishery collapses · DDT and obesity · GE sweet corn in Canada · Nitrogen pollution lingers · Climate change threatens ag · Diesel disorients honeybees

There’s a spotlight is on Washington’s bounty: A Christmas tree from our state is all lit up at the U.S. Capitol building this month, and our apple production climbed 16 percent in 2012. Other news: cooperatives are breaking sales records and a campaign aims to protect the ecosystems where more than half of U.S. wild seafood is caught.

Board report · Urban agriculture tour