New York Grocer to Become First Organic Certified Beef Handler

"NEW YORK, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Food Emporium, the Manhattan-based specialty gourmet grocery chain, announces today it will become the first major grocery store to be certified to handle and cut organic beef in its full-service meat departments. Sixteen Manhattan-area Food Emporiums will begin cutting fresh certified organic steaks in-house as a value-added program for its customers on November 8.

Working in close partnership with Dakota Beef, the nation's leading certified organic beef company, Food Emporium stores have undergone a rigorous certification and verification process by International Certification Services allowing them handle organic beef in accordance with the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP). Without organic certification, the only way grocers can sell certified organic beef is pre-packaged. "With this organic certification, we have raised the standard of our full-service meat departments by making organic a centerpiece in the premium, gourmet experience we offer our customers," said Ray Donnelly, Senior Merchant Meat and Seafood for The Food Emporium. "No other beef supplier has brought so much extra value to our meat program as Dakota Beef has with this organic certification and their premium organic beef," he added."

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