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Dear Friends,
Warm weather is finally here! Do you live in the
Chicago metro area? What better way to celebrate
summer than by spending the day at the Andersonville
neighborhood's Midsommarfest. FACT will have a
booth at the festival and it would be great to meet you.
Read below for more details.
In our last few e-newsletters, FACT has talked about
the confusion surrounding the various labeling claims
found on egg cartons. Because labels help
consumers make purchasing decisions and can
promote humane agriculture, it's absolutely essential
that they are truthful. In order to stay up-to-date on the
different claims in the market, we again need your
help!
And you may have seen FACT's Letter to the
Editor
featured in the Sunday Chicago Sun Times. The letter
focused on the recent repeal of the foie gras ban in
Chicago. FACT believes that, as a part a broad and
sustainable effort, Chicago businesses and
municipal
departments should stop their political game-playing
and follow the lead of the growing number of its
citizens by giving preference in their food purchasing
decisions to meat and dairy products produced on
humane and healthy farms.
Don't forget to visit our website for more information. Our
Take Action page gives you the opportunity to
take action on pressing issues and our secure
Donate page makes it easier than ever to
support FACT.
Thank you for your support
of our work and I hope you enjoy this edition of FACT
Sheets!
Richard Wood
Executive Director
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Come out and join FACT for a day of food and fun
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FACT reaches out to local community at popular summer festival
In Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood, the
Midsommarfest street festival is not only good for the
community; it is also good for the planet!
Midsommarfest will have the fabulous music,
artisans,
family activities and food it is known for but this year
the festival will focus on reduction of non-biodegrable
waste and non-sustainable energy usage.
We look forward to meeting and educating consumers
and FACT supporters! We will have information on
local humane food choices, our CALF campaign and
ways you can help make all farms humane and
healthy places to raise food animals. You can also
enter a raffle for a chance to win a gift certificate for
local restaurant Uncommon Ground.
Midsommarfest runs Saturday, June 14 and Sunday,
June 15 from 11 am - 10 pm. Entry is a $5 donation;
kids under 12 and seniors are free. The main
entrance
is at Clark and Foster (5200 N. Clark) in Chicago.
FACT's booth will be located on Clark between
Balmoral and Summerdale. For more
information about Midsommarfest, visit the Andersonville
Chamber of Commerce or contact
Larissa McKenna.
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Help crack the egg label mystery
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FACT is committed to addressing the problems with egg labeling.
As consumers, you know that the
purchases you make at the grocery
store can help improve the lives of
farm animals. If our grocery
shopping is to make a difference we
have to know that the products
actually come from humane farms -
not some factory farm masquerading
as "animal friendly." When it comes
to shell eggs, inadequate regulation
of label claims on egg cartons makes
this all but impossible.
FACT recently met with officials at
the FDA about the agency's oversight
of egg claims. What we learned is
that while the FDA does have an
obligation to ensure that egg labels
(and many other food products) are
not deceptive or misleading to
consumers, the agency does not
approve the labels before they
appear on cartons. Unfortunately,
under the current law, the FDA can
only take action to correct
potentially false claims after the
product is already on the market and
an outside party informs the agency
that they believe that the claim is
misleading. Before a label claim
can be pulled, the FDA must do
extensive research to determine if
the claim is indeed false. This
could take many years.
FACT finds this lack of regulatory
response unacceptable. We believe it
is absolutely essential to have
labels that are truthful and not
misleading. As a next step we want
to demonstrate the extent of the
problem to the FDA and U.S.
Department of Agriculture by
gathering as large a range of egg
carton production claims as we can
and presenting them to these
agencies and to sympathetic members
of Congress.
In the past, FACT has asked for your
help investigating label claims. We
again need your help! Please send
your empty egg cartons to Jacki
Rossi, Public Education Coordinator,
P.O. Box 14599, Chicago, IL 60614.
You can also cut out the specific
claims and send them in or email the
label claims to
Jacki Rossi. Thank you for all your
support.
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