Dining To Wine: Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

That is a huge question! And don't say from the store! LOL... Really, when you go to the store, do you know how and what the process was to get that piece of fish, chicken, steak, etc there...

Below is an article from my website Quality Gourmet Everyday that shares an important factor to look for in food quality and safety... Its what we at Rastelli Direct call Vertical Integration.

Parent company Rastelli Foods Group has become a supplier of choice because the company is “vertically integrated” and controls the quality and safety of food production at every step from farm to family. Rastelli Direct launched in January 2010 serving east coast consumers and just opened its Kansas City distribution facility to ship nationally.

Rastelli Direct reduces the distribution chain so customer delivery is the 5^th and final step, in contrast to conventional supermarket distribution where there is usually 12 steps to the customer – with middlemen profits taken and quality control lost.

The measures Rastelli Direct takes to provide the best quality food include:

Owning and source verifying their livestock and fish. For example, they breed only 100% Purebred Black Angus cattle, and it is certified through DNA testing. Only 4% of cattle in the United States grade to Rastelli upper 2/3 choice standards.
Designing a healthy feed mix without antibiotics, hormones and steroids in order to produce safe, wholesome, preservative-free foods. Organic selections are raised according to strict standards; Rastelli also produces Kosher and Halal-certified meats.

With about 325,000 hospitalizations from food-borne illnesses a year, the company takes unprecedented steps to ensure food safety, operating its food manufacturing plants under rigid quality assurance and sanitation standards. For example:

Sophisticated air filtration systems and ozonated water systems improve plant sanitation and safety. Ozonated water guards against contaminants including salmonella, lysteria and E-coli, and has been proven to have no negative ecological impact while reducing or eliminating the use of chemical cleaning agents.
The Rastelli QA team tests ground meat for E-coli four times a day, as well as offsite through Independent laboratories, in contrast to government standards for meat processors that require E-coli testing only four times a year.
All plants are under USDA and FDA inspection every hour they operate.

We should all share the same passion for our food as the Rastelli family has for years. Think about it... Most of us take or give our kids multivitamins..... Right? Well, would you take or give your children hormones, steroids and antibiotics everyday... I don't think you would but you are with the meals you put on the table.

Imagine putting a meal like this on your table every evening... An All Natural Cowboy Ribeye Steak with creamed spinach and potatoes in caramelized onions.... This dinner was delivered right to my doorstep and I don't have to worry about where it came from because Rastelli can...