North Coast Co-op Healthy Choices

Our Wellness Department has a database for helping customers answer questions about vitamins, herbs, supplements, and other health care products.

Do you have a symptom and want to know what your condition might be? Have a medical condition and want to know alternative treatment options? Have a prescription and want to know if a supplement will react with your medication? Find all this and more in our new database.

When you are in one of our stores, ask a Wellness Department clerk to do a search for you or try it out for yourself below!

Enter Reference Library

Look for the Gluten Free shelf tag when shopping to easily identify products that are labeled gluten free. While there are many products that are naturally gluten free, such as fruits and vegetables, we only label those that claim to be gluten free on their packaging.

Gluten is a specific type of protein found in wheat, rye, and barley that causes intestinal damage when eaten by people with gluten sensitivities or Celiac disease. Many other people are going gluten free because they have found various health benefits associated with removing gluten from the diet.

Whatever your reasons, we’ve made finding gluten free items easy and we stock more than 800 at any given time!

You can also pick up the Co-op's Pocket Guide to Safe & Unsafe Ingredients for Gluten-Free Diet, put together by our Consumer Education Coordinator, which allows you to read labels and find out for yourself if a product is gluten free. Find one at Customer Service or download one here.

GreenDot

The Co-op has introduced a “Green Dot” program for all 95-100% certified organic food. Signs in the store instruct shoppers that the best way to avoid eating GMO food is to choose food that has been certified organic. There is a green dot on the shelf tag for all of these certified organic products.

It is important to note that, all the certification agencies contacted have a “no GMO” policy but some do state that they cannot guarantee products are completely GMO free due to genetic drift. Your patience and input as we work through this program is very much appreciated.

The Co-op is thrilled to be a part of a countywide initiative to connect schools with local farms. Each month, the Co-op provides classroom instruction and fresh local (when possible) produce to several area schools. Nearly 100 classrooms, and growing, are learning about the Harvest of the Month.

Targeting in season and local produce, each class learns where the produce was originally grown, how it grows and serving ideas. Everyone gets a taste of perfectly ripe produce!

When children know about their food they are more likely to try it. When they try it they are more likely to continue eating it. Best of all, the children learn that the farmer down the street works everyday to feed our community.

Whether it is apples in September, butternut squash in December or strawberries in May; each month is a great opportunity to encourage children, and their families, to eat more produce. Eating more produce, coupled with regular activity may be their best defensive against obesity.

Trust Your Source

Trust Your Source is the Co-op’s project to promote awareness of food grown or produced within the Klamath/North Coast Bioregion of California and whose producers use “Sustainable Production” methods.

Sustainable production methods include the following prinicples:

Reduce or eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
Avoid the use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering.
Conserve soil and water.
Provide safe and fair working conditions for on-farm labor.
Provide healthy and humane care for livestock.
Protect and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity on working farm landscapes.
Reduce food-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions through energy conservation, recycling, minimal packaging, and local sales.

The Klamath/North Coast Bioregion, as defined by the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System, includes all of Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino, and Lake counties; plus parts of Siskiyou, Shasta, Glenn, Tehama and Colusa Counties.

Bioregion Map

Going beyond organic certification or “buy local” campaigns, regional sustainability integrates economic, social, and environmental considerations, and rewards local farmers, both conventional and organic, who employ ecological practices.

Whether it’s organic lettuce from Orleans, Tofu Shop tofu from Arcata or the Co-op’s own table wines from Mendocino County, the Trust Your Source logo indicates that the product is not only locally produced but sustainably produced as well. If you see a product on our shelves that should be labeled as Trust Your Source please let us know.

Download a brochure here (PDF).

If you would like your business to be profiled in our Trust Your Source program, fill out the Trust Your Source Application.

Food Advocacy

Protecting Food Locally
Food advocacy at the national level is extremely important. Most of what we consume comes from out of the area, so we rely on federal regulations to protect our food. Additionally, legislation at the county level affects our local food supply. As members of the community, it is our responsibility to make certain that development does not overtake viable farmland.

One way to protect the ability to feed ourselves locally is to get involved in the Humboldt County General Plan Update. Be informed. Read the current draft of the plan here. You can also read the Health Impact Assessment, co-authored by Human Impact Partners, Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Branch, and the Humboldt Partnership for Active Living (HumPAL) which informs the General Plan Update. You can also get involved with the Healthy Humboldt Coalition and/or the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF).

*If you know of other organizations working on the General Plan Update in regards to food security, please let us know and we will post them here. Contact Melanie Bettenhausen at (707) 826-8670 ext. 132.

GMO Statement
The North Coast Cooperative recognizes both the potential health and environmental hazards associated with Genetically Engineered (GE) foods and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in our food chain. A Genetically Modified Organism is an organism whose genetic characteristics have been altered by the insertion of a modified gene or a gene from another organism using the techniques of genetic engineering (1). Working outside of the confines of natural possibilities, these alterations leave a risk of unknown consequences to the ecosystem and public health.

The North Coast Cooperative believes that at this time the best way to avoid GE and GMO products is to consume only certified organic food. We call upon regulatory agencies to support thorough testing and strict labeling standards for GMO products. Education and information regarding food safety is a responsibility the North Coast Cooperative accepts and embraces. There are resources available throughout the store, as well as on our web site to stay informed regarding controversial technologies and practices.

(1) As defined by the American Heritage Medical Dictionary.

Bisphenol A and Your Health
"Increasing consumer demand for convenience products has brought attention to the impacts plastic, single use packages are having on human health. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical commonly used to make plastic food and beverage containers, plastic food wrap, baby bottles, large plastic water jugs and the linings of metal cans of foods and beverages like sodas, soups, fruits and vegetables. BPA is also in the coating on the insides of lids on Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest and Bernardin mason jars.

Scientists and consumers are concerned about BPA because it can leach from these products into the food they contain as they age and are exposed to heat. Producers and consumers are also concerned that the presence of BPA compromises the integrity of certified organic products. The National Organic Program (NOP) issued a memo to certifying agencies in 2002 noting that BPA is among many food contact substances that are exempt from organic certification." Read more from the Co-op News or:

FDA To Revise BPA Review, Considers Independent Studies
Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group Fact Sheet
Center For The Evaluation of Risks To Human Reproduction

If you think BPA should not be allowed in organic products, let the USDA's National Organic Program know about it by filing a complaint here.

To address the concerns of our shoppers, the North Coast Co-op has switched to BPA-free reciept paper in its cash registers.