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About Our Meat Buying, Delivery and Pricing Practices
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Why is FDO Selling Meat?
Over the last few years FDO has had innumerous requests and inquiries about providing access to certified organic meat. The logistics, expense and availability of locally raised organic meat have always prevented us from seriously considering these requests, that is until now. We are very well aware of the environmental impacts of large scale industrial animal farming and we are not selling any such product nor do we advocate consuming such products. Our decision to sell meat is based on providing those FDO customers who do eat meat access to good quality certified organic locally raised products. FDO is fully aware of the arguments for and against meat eating (as well as dairy consumption) and our positions in those arguments are personal and varied depending on the individual staff member. As a small business however, we have a commitment to listen to all of our customers' requests.
FDO has developed strict, thorough and transparent meat receiving, handling and delivery guidelines.
Every week, we will receive fresh product from Field Gate Organics that will have a 7 - 10 day best-before date which will be printed on the Field Gate Organics label. Front Door Organics will promptly stamp it with the date on a 'Frozen on:' label and freeze it in a meat only dedicated freezer. The meat will be kept separate from all other products in our warehouse. Daily meat orders will be packed in freezer bags, placed in a cooler with gel ice packs and loaded into our refrigerated delivery vans. When the driver arrives at the delivery address, he or she will transfer the meat in the freezer bag to the customer's Rubbermaid container and make the delivery. After the delivery is made, the onus of safe handling and the responsible consumption of the product is on the customer. We will not sell any beef, chicken, lamb or pork that has been in our freezer for more than 60 days, and we will not sell any bacon, ham or sausage that has been in our freezer for more than 21 days. Those interested in purchasing meat must understand that we will be maintaining our unattended delivery model and cannot guarantee a time for any delivery. Please also understand that we are NOT charging deposits on the freezer bags, but do expect that they be returned to us in the empty Rubbermaid container with the next delivery.
Who are Field Gate Organics?
 Field Gate Organics is an alliance of Canadian certified organic farmers. They are a certified organic processing, marketing and distribution company that is collectively owned by more than 50 small certified organic farmers and operated by their appointed management team led by Ted Soudant. Over 90% of the farms are located in Ontario, mostly Southwestern Ontario, with all of their pork and lamb and 90% of their beef raised here. Due to supply problems, about a quarter of their chicken is sourced from Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
Field Gate Organics' meat processing plant is located in Ingersoll, Ontario and they have pioneered a tracking and traceability program - the first in Canada - that can track and label each cut of meat to the individual animal. You'll notice a tag number on their beef, pork and lamb packages - should you wish, you can contact them, provide that number and they can provide you with the farm the animal was raised on, its history and the food it consumed.
If you would like more information about Field Gate Organics, please visit their informative website.
A Brief Look at Pricing and Ordering
As mentioned above, these products are not factory farmed meat and you will find they are priced accordingly. Every product is priced per item/package and is based on an average weight, except for the whole chickens which will be weighed and priced individually. In your online account, you'll find the average weights and the price per pound outlined in each individual item description. To order, click 'Add item to order' - just as you would any other Add-On item. Meat is available to add to all Standing and Current Orders. After adding meat to either your Current or Standing Order a pop-up will appear reiterating FDO's receiving and handling practices, please read it carefully and to continue, click 'Okay'. We would like to state that we are not a butcher nor are we selling meat shares. For special cuts or large meat shares, please visit your local organic butcher or organic farm.
A Final Word
FDO is still primarily a produce and grocery retailer. Now we are also providing access to certified organic locally raised meat - to reiterate: we are not a butcher. Our company as a whole advocates eating only certified organic meat raised ethically and locally and we thoroughly agree with Michael Pollan's oft quoted mantra, 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.' You'll find our newsletter and recipe focus will remain vegetable and fruit orientated and meat will never appear in the contents of the Fresh Box™ or be available as a substitution item. On a personal note, our staff are divided on the moral argument of whether or not meat should be consumed at all - we have staff who believe 'all meat is murder' and others who think there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating foie gras with every breakfast. Some who say 'if you drink milk or eat cheese, you should eat veal' and others who err on the side of 'our bodies are not designed to digest any animal products whatsoever'. As you can see, FDO is like the rest of Toronto - varied and divided on the morality of meat eating. But hey, we all get along because we all respect each others' individual choices and world views....right?
If you have any questions about our certified organic meat, please visit the About Certified Organic Meat Delivery page in the FAQ section of this website.
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