Kaylynn Tracy

If anything learning about cattle diets and methane emmisions made me even more concerned because big meat production corporations or dairy farmers likely would not switch their feed to something healthy and environmentally beneficial because it costs too much-- even if there is a chance of the cattle producing more milk. I think that really, reducing the amount of meat the world consumes and produces would be the best solution to controlling methane emissions. Morally and ethically, however, it would be better for the cows to consume more nutritous foods like legumes, soy, and maize.

This week I researched all of the suppliers I source from to see if they implement sustainable practices. One of my main suppliers, Hawthorne Supply Co., does not have information readily available regarding their sustainability initiative.

Additionally, I thought up creative ways to use up my scrap fabric. Since the beginning of running my small business, I have always tried to keep sustainability in the forefront of all my practices. Over ther course of three years I have accumulated many bins worth of fabric scraps in hopes to find ways to implement the scraps into my product. Starting today I am going to begin making quilts out of the scraps and donate them to people in need.

Use by, sell by, and best by dates are all for quality purposes, not for safety purposes. The FSIS does not require products to have these dates, its a choice made by the manufacturer. Additionally, the FSIS reccomends to watch for change in odor or mold development to determine that food is not safe to eat, not the date printed on the package (with the exemption of baby formula).

Knowing this information, I feel guilty for throwing out products based on their best by date. I have always been taught to avoid food with dates that are bast their sell by date, when in reality, the food is perfectly fine. It is sickening too that the whole purpose of the dates is so companies can persuade the consumer to buy more product more frequently. From now on, I will ignore the date printed on food packaging so I can reduce unwarranted waste.