Novato schools end red meat ban, accept West Marin grass-fed beef

Marin Independent Journal - 4/5/2019

April 05-- Apr. 5--After a decade of leaving over-processed hormone-, antibiotic- and additive-laden beef off the menus at their schools, Novato Unified School District officials have reversed the ban -- but this time in favor of using grass-fed, unprocessed meat from a West Marin rancher.

"It's good for everyone," said Miguel Villarreal, NUSD nutrition and food services director and a longtime healthy meals advocate. "It's good for the environment, it's good for our ranchers and their business and it's good for our kids."

Villarreal, who took red meat off the Novato schools' menus completely in 2008 after a major California beef recall, has this year forged an arrangement to receive grass-fed, hormone-free beef from district parents Loren and Lisa Poncia, owners of Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales. The couple have two children at Loma Verde Elementary School in Novato.

"I'm delighted to be able to offer grass-fed beef from my family farm to the kids, teachers and staff at Novato Unified," Loren Poncia said in an email. "As a local producer, it's important that the kids make the connection with who raises their food, and also understand how farming benefits the land, the animals and Mother Nature."

The new arrangement is part of a trend nationally. According to the Stone Barn's Center for Food Agriculture report, U.S. consumer demand for grass-fed beef is growing at an extraordinary rate, doubling annually from $17 million in 2012 to $272 million in 2016.

Villarreal, who for more than a decade has phased out such sugary foods as sodas and juices and such additives as high-fructose corn syrup, bleached flour and trans fats, said the grass-fed beef started being incorporated in lunches every other week at all 13 district elementary schools and Novato High School in March. The meaty lunches will also be extended to the district's middle schools and San Marin High School later this year.

Villarreal said the district is taking some time to implement new equipment and food safety protocols to accommodate the beef, which is being substituted for pre-packaged turkey in some "plant-forward protein" recipes such as tacos with beans.

"The beef is coming in raw," Villarreal said. "Food safety is a high concern."

He also notes that the program is increasing equity across the board by allowing children whose parents can't afford to buy the higher quality, more expensive grass-fed beef to get access to it.

"It gives families who are economically disadvantaged a boost," said Villarreal, who has been at NUSD since 2002.

Even prior to the 2008 recall, when 143 million pounds of California-produced beef -- of which 37 million pounds was destined for school lunches -- were recalled after officials said the suppliers violated U.S.D.A. food safety guidelines, Villareal said he had become alarmed by the overuse of antibiotics and hormones in livestock.

He estimated that a large majority of the world's production of antibiotics is given to animals to keep them healthy. Many animals in mass food production are also not treated humanely, he said.

Regarding climate change, methane gas from livestock is considered a major contributor to rising greenhouse gas emissions.

"The day I saw Stemple Creek beef on my kids school lunch menu was a very happy and very proud day in my life as a farmer and as a dad," Loren Poncia said in a written statement Tuesday announcing the new partnership with NUSD. "Grass fed beef means that kids, parents and school staff can enjoy superior protein from animals that never, ever see a feedlot, are raised on pastures and exemplify the care for the land that I want to pass on to the next generation."

Poncia's father, Al Poncia, is a founding board member of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. The family has worked with MALT since 1980.

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