Packaging Claims - What you should know!

This month, our office hipster and resident farm gal shed some light on the egg aisle. Listen to learn what common packaging claims are duping consumers, why Shep drinks butter coffee, and how the closure of grocery stores in rural America is affecting the farmers who live there.

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Transcript

spk_0:   0:00
Hey, all you cool cats and kittens. Shep and I wanted to preface this episode by letting you know that it was recorded in early March before Cove in 19 started to really ramp up in the U. S. We're going to talk about things like egg label claims, which honestly don't seem that important if you can't even find eggs on your local grocery shelves. We're also going to talk about role grocery stores where problems become exaggerated. A pandemic situation like this. We do want you to know that vital Farms has plenty of eggs, and the folks that ex Central Station are working around the clock to get them to you as safely and efficiently as possible. We can't even begin to tell you how proud we are of our co crew out in Springfield, Missouri, and for my salt of the Earth people out there in rural America. I know you grew up stepping on rusty nails and drinking from the water hose, but for the sake of the people that love you, please take this situation seriously. Quarantine of possible and stay away from highway stops just and breaks your country lifestyle. We'll get back to normal soon enough. And I will be delighted if you get to tell me that I was overreacting, Dad. Anyways, please enjoy Episode two of shooting the bull debt with vital farms.

spk_1:   1:25
You're listenin to shooting a bullet with vital farms.

spk_0:   1:29
Welcome to shoot in the Vital Farms podcast. Um, Shep, we got a lot of really good feedback from Episode one. What do you think? It?

spk_1:   1:40
Well, still unsure who listens to it besides the people in this office and my parents, but glowing by star reviews for my parents. Ah, Marcia and Pete Way saw we had one download from there. We know they like that.

spk_0:   1:53
We actually just looked at the podcast stats. And what we saw was probably what 1/4 of our listeners air from Ohio. We have one listener from Kansas. I'm really disappointed in my people. Let's step it up.

spk_1:   2:06
How do your parents like it? Were they the one download?

spk_0:   2:08
My mom did not listen to what my dad would. He just doesn't podcast,

spk_1:   2:14
but he's out there working on the farm. Doesn't he have Van Halen in his year?

spk_0:   2:18
So one year I thought I was being the best daughter and I got him a subscription to Sirius Radio for his tractor for Christmas. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, you're gonna have 80 channels to listen, Thio you can because he loves pop radio, too. And, like you're gonna have so many options. And he still would listen to 95 5 the pop radio out of Dodge City, Kansas, because he liked his radio house.

spk_1:   2:43
You know what? It makes sense, though. One. I think that's a great gift. As a fellow child here, you're infusing some technology. You're showing an understanding what he's going through. But I also have noticed parents, right? Like if you birth a child and then bring them through all the awkward stages of life,

spk_0:   2:59
they are not listening.

spk_1:   3:00
It's got to be a lot harder to listen to them dropping knowledge on you

spk_0:   3:04
need a list? Do you know how many commercials this guy listens to? A day when you're spending 18 hours on a tractor listening to like local radio?

spk_1:   3:12
Do you think maybe he enjoys and like he's got a little bit of a marketer down

spk_0:   3:16
that I don't know farmers also, do you know how hard it is to get serious radio set up on a tractor. It's not easy. They don't just come with it like your Ford Fusion.

spk_1:   3:27
We gotta Maybe we'll get him on podcast after this

spk_0:   3:29
to set up this episode. I thought we would answer a question. I've been asking a lot of people lately, so I'm asking this and interviews and a dinner parties and just in around the office in general. And that question is, what Disney character are you?

spk_1:   3:47
That's a good one.

spk_0:   3:48
Do you have a dozen character for yourself? I know I have one for you,

spk_1:   3:51
so I don't have one for you because I'm not as well versed.

spk_0:   3:55
You don't have one for me.

spk_1:   3:56
Um, I don't have one. Or you and I wouldn't even have one for myself unless you wouldn't have given me one in the past. Okay, remember, we won.

spk_0:   4:04
Oh, I know Your Disney chefs Disney character. I've been naming everyone around the office. I've been giving them characters and ships. Came to me immediately, like wasn't difficult at all. It's Pocahontas. Everybody first. Sure, Shep. Why? Why do you rested eight with Pocahontas?

spk_1:   4:21
When you said that to me, my heart warmed up and I just felt, you know, the beating heart of Mother Nature. Deep down inside, I just like the going outside, getting out in the wilderness, connecting kind of back to the basic sort of thing. E think Pocahontas is. I know she's up there on the patio. So I think people hold a lot of high regard for Pocahontas. Your share. I remember when I accidentally validated it for you to remember this.

spk_0:   4:43
Yeah, So are my first year at Expo. We were super tired. Long day feet were sore and Shep said, Let's go. Grounding, grounding, Grounding What?

spk_1:   4:53
Taking your shoes off. You've got positive ions in your toes and your feet. And then there's irons that interact with the ground. The soil. I don't know. I'm probably gonna butcher the science of it.

spk_0:   5:05
You didn't tell me about the eye on the floor because I wouldn't have done it.

spk_1:   5:08
That's podcast level knowledge dropping. Okay, So

spk_0:   5:11
what we did is after Expo we went, stood out in the front yard of just stood in the grass, and then you look, we look to the sky. You raised your arms. I didn't raise my arms. It wasn't committed to that level. It didn't make us feel a little bit.

spk_1:   5:25
Yeah, some deep breaths, you know, just slowing down, connecting with nature.

spk_0:   5:29
And that's why shoppers Pocahontas.

spk_1:   5:32
Okay. Okay. So Okay,

spk_0:   5:33
who's my Disney character?

spk_1:   5:35
So I don't know Disney well enough I Lion Kings when I favorites. So I wanted to say Nala, but I remember is that if that was a sequel,

spk_0:   5:44
didn't know what Sonal is characteristic their personality. I

spk_1:   5:48
just thought a female line and I thought, you know, I thought half of that is just gender based on that. That's not necessarily the best, but like that, you do have a lying characteristics.

spk_0:   5:57
I'm gonna give you my preferred Disney Princess growing up. It was Milan. If you want to take it one level deeper, I've been told I'm almost a 100% match for, um Edna from the Impossible's.

spk_1:   6:11
Was that the daughter?

spk_0:   6:12
No. The MPAA Edna from the impossible. She's the one that makes their, uh, costumes

spk_1:   6:18
from Incredible.

spk_0:   6:19
Our producer is nodding his head. He knows PETN is Let me explain

spk_1:   6:23
What producer has a child So like take me off the hook, okay? I'm not as well versed in Disney now it is.

spk_0:   6:28
So Edna is the one that she lives like. She's a recluse. Basically, she lives alone and she gets hit up once every 20 years to make costumes for superheroes. She's annoyed that people are even reaching out to her, but she takes on the job and just absolutely knocks it out of the park for them. So I d'oh

spk_1:   6:48
story checks out, does

spk_0:   6:49
the only thing is that she's about 2.5 feet tall, which doesn't line up, seeing as I'm 5 11 but

spk_1:   6:55
you can't hit every afternoon.

spk_0:   6:57
Now we again. Next up, we're gonna go into our usual segment of calling bullshit. This is the segment where we call out something in the food industry or even just talk about it. Maybe not. Call it out. Maybe we end up citing with

spk_1:   7:13
who knows, maybe. Yeah, maybe I'm what? I'm on one side. You're on another. Who knows? We don't want a

spk_0:   7:18
virtual Yeah, What we're going to discuss today is claims in the egg category. Okay, It's a little bit more difficult for you being the butter guy.

spk_1:   7:28
Butter guy, hard boiled guy in G guy.

spk_0:   7:30
Okay, I

spk_1:   7:31
boiled our eggs. And I've spent some, You know, I've spent some time within these four walls I know a bit about.

spk_0:   7:36
You've been to the farm once or twice. Vegetarian, fat,

spk_1:   7:40
vegetarian, fed. Now, this is one that I could see.

spk_0:   7:45
This one is one that grind your gears, right.

spk_1:   7:47
It definitely grinds my gears, and we're pretty educated, you know, on eggs, egg claims and the life of chicken lives. Um, so I could see maybe a young shepherd, you know, brush out of college buying buying eggs on his own. Vegetarian. Fred, that sounds great. What I don't think most people know is that chickens are on the board, so would yes,

spk_0:   8:08
name names, something a chicken eats on pasture. We're gonna play the category game. Okay, So you name something? I name something until we run out. And it's crickets, grubs, moles,

spk_1:   8:19
moles, I think more. Are we all right? So this is where ah hipster and a farm girl diverted head. I'm thinking of a mole is like

spk_0:   8:27
the point here is that chickens are eating things like insects. They're eating things upto mice. Even they're eating anything you're finding out on past year, which isn't vegetarian fed?

spk_1:   8:39
No. And they they need the protein from the bugs have a full lower on to diet. And from everything I've heard, if you're on a vegetarian diet, that's when these caged Katri facilities can have a lot of packing. They turn into little raptors right there looking for me because they're under nourished. And then that's where all this chicken fighting goes on.

spk_0:   9:01
The crazy behavior. It's kind of like me if I'm not getting me in my diet,

spk_1:   9:06
yeah, you get a little hungry

spk_0:   9:08
Like I respect vegetarians. I kind of have, like, co dependency issues of vegetarians, potentially, which that's a whole other topic. But I need to ask me I

spk_1:   9:20
and if you want to make that decision, for whatever reason, it maybe you're making that decision.

spk_0:   9:25
Yeah,

spk_1:   9:25
for chickens, they're looking to express their natural behaviour, their natural diet, and when you take a piece of that away, they're missing a piece of the puzzle on Dhe. That's you know, it's it's not great for the life that they're living, and I wouldn't imagine it's great for their eggs, either.

spk_0:   9:39
No so vegetarian fed both at next up certified organic. What do you think of certified organic.

spk_1:   9:48
I think it's fun to play the kind of general consumer game. Right consumer. Shep certified Organic Sounds great. What do you think? What is consumer back to think about Certified organic,

spk_0:   9:58
certified organic triggers my farm go farm girl instincts Because the thing about certified organic on eggs is what it means is that the chickens air getting certified organic feed, which is good. But it's not qualifying their environment at all. It's not meaning that they're necessarily getting to go outside regularly. They don't have the big, spacious environments that you're looking at from pasteurized eggs

spk_1:   10:24
and its regulations Write the regulations to be organic. Don't necessarily mean what the general consumer would think it would. Yeah, organic to me means you're living an organic lifestyle. You're out on organic

spk_0:   10:37
pasture. It triggers a lot of positive connotation for people and some for some people, it's the Onley indicator word they need when the shopping, the eggshells.

spk_1:   10:48
Yeah, like we talked about earlier. You're looking for hacks. You're looking for shortcuts. We've all got busy lives in organic claim or organic certification.

spk_0:   10:56
That's

spk_1:   10:56
a shortcut. Yeah, but what we see is the other side these companies are looking for shortcuts as well. Inorganic symbol and whatever the loophole it is that they do with the minimal effort to make the most profit is what they do. So a lot of times, organic doesn't necessarily mean what we think it does or what we hope it does. There's some other key indicators right of pasture raised, a company or a brand you trust vital, far vital farms. But yeah, and you see, and it's it's ah, it's tough because as you talk to consumers, friends, family members, a lot of them feel duped. A lot of them feel that they can't trust the food industry because you trust organic. You trust this company. Then you see an article or a Netflix documentary, right? How many times you talking about? I saw his Netflix documentary, and it's really tough for them then to trust anything.

spk_0:   11:46
So to give a little bit of scope Thio Vital Farms founder metal hair eats our pasture raised organic eggs, the ones coming in the brown card because it's important to him that both the feet is organic and the hens or pasture raised me farm girl from Kansas. I'm buying our conventional egg or conventional pasteurize eggs that are coming in the black box really important to me that the animals are living outside less important to me because of the feet piece. So I'm open to evolving that opinion. But right now that's where I'm at. And, honestly, that's where a lot of consumers are at just based on demand for our products. Definitely. So those are at category claims. If you have any other category claims you want us to call Don right a sin. Let us now

spk_1:   12:35
in food, little farms.

spk_0:   12:36
Next up is our give a segment where we talk about things that were passionate about. And I have a question for Shep on something that I know he's super passionate about. And this is butter, coffee,

spk_1:   12:47
butter, coffee.

spk_0:   12:48
I've been really tired in the mornings. I know you drink butter coffee every day. I think I kind of wrote it off the first time you brought it up because it seemed a little too hip story for me to be honest and fair.

spk_1:   13:01
Butter and coffee.

spk_0:   13:02
What? Tell me what it is why you do it. What is better? Coffee.

spk_1:   13:07
Butter. Coffee is you start with coffee. You had butter. And then you also add that chap was that obvious? Eso It's butter and coffee. Go figure. And then you also add M c T oil, which is medium chain triglycerides, which is a coconut oil extract. And the common thread between butter and M C T oil is healthy fats, a healthy fatty acid profile. Okay, so you put that in a blender with coffee and blend it up. It almost turns into a lot like a nice caramel colored drink.

spk_0:   13:40
What's your fat content in this? Is this something I want to be drinking on him? Everyday basis?

spk_1:   13:45
Great question. Great questions. So what we know is that saturate if that doesn't directly lead harder it heart disease as long as you use in moderation. So there are saturated fats within butter. We know that, uh, bats are back. So what's

spk_0:   13:59
moderation is everyday drinking butter. Coffee? Is that OK?

spk_1:   14:03
It is for me. I think I'm healthy and thriving over here. Talk to me in 20 years. Now,

spk_0:   14:09
Chef thinks he's healthy and thriving.

spk_1:   14:11
Yes, moderation is if you start your day with butter coffee. So I I don't eat breakfast during the week days. I'm not necessary. An early person. I'm more of a night owl. Okay, so to get my day started quick, I just do a butter coffee and hit Hit the road.

spk_0:   14:24
So when's the first time you eat during the day?

spk_1:   14:26
Usually 11 30 11 30 12 Maybe on crazy days. 11 o'clock. But I do eat a bit earlier, but it's, um it's kind of the same thing. The intermittent fasting. It's not quite all time right there, but I don't necessarily feel hungry. So I listen to my body and I don't need to eat breakfast right off the bat.

spk_0:   14:44
So have you ever eaten breakfast? What did you eat? Growing up?

spk_1:   14:48
Yes. So, growing up, I mean, that's that's crazy town, right? I mean, I was trying to get cinnamon toast crunch. You're saying

spk_0:   14:55
second grade Shep wasn't drinking butter coffee?

spk_1:   14:57
No, unfortunately not. Did not have skinny jeans and was not drinking butter. Coffee back. Growing up, it was a hodgepodge right on the weekend. Some water now, bacon edge toast, that sort of thing. But we days it was serial definitely

spk_0:   15:10
favorite cereal

spk_1:   15:12
Baird cereal as an adult cinnamon toast crunch

spk_0:   15:14
as an adult as

spk_1:   15:15
an adult, I don't

spk_0:   15:16
get aggressive. Adult Siri. It's

spk_1:   15:18
like and I don't eat it for breakfast. But it's like, if I see it a walk down memory lane, a little nostalgia.

spk_0:   15:23
Do you have some in your pantry right now?

spk_1:   15:25
We do not back to butter. Coffee is We were moving at a 1,000,000 miles an hour, but butter coffee? The idea is, it's a way to start your day without eating, so typically pair it with a breakfast. Hence the moderation, right? I don't typically do it with a big bacon, egg breakfast and butter coffee. It's a quick way to start my day during the week. The fat content help with satiate your appetite on also reacts with the caffeine. Have a bit of a more slow burn on the caffeine.

spk_0:   15:54
So if I wanted to start drinking butter coffee, what does that look like? Like do I put a stick of butter in there?

spk_1:   16:01
So I use for two cups two tablespoons

spk_0:   16:05
Okay, so you put two cups of coffee, a mug or a an actual cup measure full

spk_1:   16:10
French press coffee that full French press that nets out to two. Yet he's worth for highly. My wife on myself and then two tablespoons of butter and quick, quick squeeze of M c t oil. And I mean quick. You do not wanna overdo it.

spk_0:   16:25
What happens if you overdo it on the M C t oil?

spk_1:   16:27
P s A. It could be a laxative. Oh, I don't know Way might have to edit this out. What I know were explicitly rated, but it could be elected. So you want to be careful with the N c. T.

spk_0:   16:39
And I do have to admit, you're much more focused and with it in the mornings, and I am I'm a lot less productive in

spk_1:   16:47
Wow, This is an admission that I had not heard before.

spk_0:   16:49
You've been calling me out for rolling in at about 9 a.m. For the past two weeks, so?

spk_1:   16:54
Well, if I get in any minute before nine AM, I'm looking at everyone else as if they're lazy. It's like if you somehow get the front row of the plane, yes, someone has to walk past you. It's like

spk_0:   17:04
you feel very self righteous.

spk_1:   17:05
Yeah, for your getting before nine, everyone else here is lazy.

spk_0:   17:10
Okay, okay.

spk_1:   17:11
Right. So we drop a little knowledge on butter coffee. Something that I definitely give us about. Yeah. Very passion about drinking every day. What about you? What do you give it?

spk_0:   17:20
Something that's been on my mind A lot this week is rural grocery stores, and I apologize for everyone. I don't say the word rural. Very well. It kind of sounds like I'm car going

spk_1:   17:31
is because you're too close to it. You know,

spk_0:   17:33
maybe that's it. Yeah. I'm gonna stay small. I'm gonna say small town grocery stores from here on out, my hometown spirit Kansas grocery store closed a couple months back, which is really crazy. And that means that my family now has to drive 20 miles to a gallon of milk.

spk_1:   17:50
How close was it before? Six blocks. Ok, so really close before I know. I think it's a mile in the city in an urban area and 10 miles in suburbs or rural areas to be considered a food desert. So now your hometown is considered, and we're parents left

spk_0:   18:06
My family. My dad's a farmer, So he's one of the people feeding America lives in a food desert.

spk_1:   18:12
That does not seem right. Something about that,

spk_0:   18:15
which is, honestly, it's really true of a lot of small town USA. There's been this huge exodus of grocery stores in the last couple of decades for a variety of reasons, but it just does not seem fair for the people that are feeding America that they don't have grocery stores nearby.

spk_1:   18:31
No, it's not right. It they should be able to be their family the same way that we do. If

spk_0:   18:36
not, there's a couple of reasons that I found out why this is happening. And one of them is that farms are getting bigger and bigger. Conventional farms were getting bigger. As so it becomes less for farmers, more land per area. And so people are leaving small towns. If that makes sense, totally as conventional farmers get bigger and farmers just need to make money.

spk_1:   18:56
Yeah, and this goes back to what we talked about on the last podcast of your why farmers and Russell, he s Conseco are CEOs. Why farmers? They they often get the short end of the stick just by nature of how businesses are set up by nature of being in more rural areas. As everyone moved to the cities.

spk_0:   19:14
Yeah,

spk_1:   19:15
I get left behind.

spk_0:   19:16
So I I have been thinking a lot lately about what's next and how you solve a huge problem like that. I mean, it's not just a nisi fix. So what is the solution for food? For people in small towns, It's I'm Brak In my brain, it's been really difficult.

spk_1:   19:33
Is it smaller markets? I know, um, my love in Arkansas there, Wal Mart, Neighborhood markets that were much smaller.

spk_0:   19:40
These grocery stores, I will tell you. The grocery store in my hometown is called the Merc, short for mercantile. It's smaller than a Walmart neighborhood market by far,

spk_1:   19:51
and there's not enough. There's,

spk_0:   19:53
like four aisles of

spk_1:   19:55
and they're still it's

spk_0:   19:56
not enough

spk_1:   19:56
to support it.

spk_0:   19:57
No.

spk_1:   19:57
Is it people moving to cities that are driving this? Do you think

spk_0:   20:01
one of the big reasons I've heard I've been doing some research is as towns are getting smaller and other stores close like if the John Deere in town closes and then people have to drive 30 minutes to go get their parts, they're gonna do their shopping there. So other stores closing the decline of rural American General is leading to this, but losing a grocery store is just the life blood for a small town. And honestly, if if there's no grocery store, we're not gonna get younger folks into these small towns were not gonna get younger farmers, farmers. You're gonna keep retiring. I'm seeing an apocalypse type situation happening here, and I'm getting

spk_1:   20:37
worked up. Is there? What do you do? We think it will correct itself. So it vital farms. We have a lot of the younger farmers, and we purposely don't work with farmers who have been in the act industry before. They have bad habits. They may have brought a cage facility or or take a tree farms. And because of the way, um, the vital farms has set up our structure in our farmer contracts, we incentivize them for doing the right thing. Yeah, for raising animals the right way. And we've seen an influx of farmers hoping to come work with us. Is this something that could help? Do you think

spk_0:   21:06
I think farming the way we farm instead of mass conventional farming is a better way because you're having more people per area. That is part of the solution. There's a lot of good organizations doing good works of the Kansas Rural Grocery Initiative. Bye. Kansas State University is actually one of the leaders in this field, which is kind of cool. They're doing things like connecting these small towns to grant that helped them or setting up cooperative style grocery stores for these small towns. Um, I'm I'm still kind of struggling with this issue, being so business minded and wanting t but still wanting to see small town America thrive. So if anyone has any ideas, sending my way Just been something I'm thinking about a lot lately.

spk_1:   21:49
Yeah, well, it shows that you're, uh you're living your why on why your vital farms And, uh, at least you're doing your part in your in your daily 9 to 5.

spk_0:   21:57
Yeah. Um, so I think that's all Thanks everybody for tuning in

spk_1:   22:00
Rick and Jill. Yeah, back his parents.

spk_0:   22:03
Oh, gosh.

spk_1:   22:04
We gotta have you guys listen to this, okay?

spk_0:   22:06
They're not going to hear you say it on the podcast

spk_1:   22:09
or give me a call.

spk_0:   22:10
I really hope our producer cuts out. Most

spk_1:   22:12
of you gotta give him

spk_0:   22:14
shaking his head over there. Here comes our Outro song. Thanks for listening To find out more about vital farms, visit vital farms dot com or check out your local grocery store and check out the egg. I'll