Price of a Cocktail

Posted on September 24, 2011 by

Of all the ethical issues involved in producing, transporting, marketing, and selling food, pricing is one of the least-well explored. Issues of pricing are essentially absent from the academic literature on business ethics, for example, presumably because for “standard” products, and especially for commodities (like oil or coffee or wheat), businesses simply don’t face any decision about pricing. The market price is the market price, and there is little opportunity to deviate. And if there’s no choice to make at all, then there isn’t any ethical choice to make.

But still, people have pretty strong intuitions about prices, and in particular about what constitutes a fair price; but those intuitions aren’t always underpinned by a good understanding of the relevant businesses.

In that regard, it’s useful to read this interesting interview with the owner of what happens to be my favourite Manhattan bar, Ward III: From Behind the Bar: My Cocktail Costs How Much?. The interview doesn’t deal explicitly with ethics, but it does say a lot about the hidden operating costs that turn $1.95 worth of ingredients into perhaps a $12 cocktail.

Now, the pricing of cocktails isn’t exactly a burning social issue. Fancy cocktails at über-hip bars aren’t exactly necessities of life. But still, the basic economic lesson embodied in the above interview holds true for other foods and beverages. The lower limit of what a vendor needs to charge to stay in business is determined by a complex combination of overhead costs; and what they can charge is limited by the twin forces of competition and consumers’ willingness to pay.

Posted in alcohol, marketing, prices, restaurants | 1 Comment

Store Does End-Run Around Egg Safety

Posted on June 27, 2011 by

Here’s a chuckle, and a caution:

Store sells cartons, gives away eggs

A health food store in eastern P.E.I. is looking for a way around health regulations after provincial officials told them to stop selling eggs they buy from local farmers.

The eggs haven’t been inspected, and officials say that violates health regulations. Mary and Chris Mermuys of Turning Point Health Food in Montague have been selling eggs from local producers for seven years, but were only told last week to stop.

The eggs are still available at their store, but they say they’re giving them away. If you want a carton to carry them in, however, it will cost you $2.75.

A lot of people are bound to cheer this ingenious end-run around what they see as bureaucratic red tape.

But ask yourself: is this the sort of behaviour you want adopted by businesses, generally? Should businesses do an end-run around rules that they happen to disagree with? Would we cheer a bigger company using the same tactics? How about a pharmacy distributing pharmaceuticals in the same way?

Posted in certifiction, ethics, health, law, marketing, safety | 3 Comments

Canada Geese for NYC Homeless: Yes

Posted on June 24, 2011 by

This is such an obviously-good idea that I’m not sure why it’s even news.

Activist says feeding homeless with geese ‘ethical’

A Virginia-based locavore activist says New York City is doing the “ethical thing” by sending its culled Canada Geese to a slaughterhouse to feed the homeless.

Jackson Landers, a self-professed conservationist who hunts for his own food, told CTV’s Canada AM on Friday that the city’s decision to capture the birds and send them to food banks in Pennsylvania “gives some sort of meaning to (their) deaths.”

Hmm, I wonder if migratory birds count as “local”?

Posted in activism, animal rights, animal welfare, sustainability, wildlife | 1 Comment

Is Smaller More Ethical, or Less?

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

The food world’s fascination with small-scale production of bespoke edibles shows no sign of waning.

See, for example, this piece by Emma Sturgess, for The Guardian: From small seeds grow big ideas

There are David and Goliath battles in all fields of business, but in food David seems to be putting up a particularly gutsy fight. In recent years, small-scale food producers have become both more numerous and higher-profile, helped by the rise of farmers’ markets and the ease of setting up a technological shop window to sell to the world….

Small certainly has its charms. Many of my favourite businesses are the small-and-independent kind. But small is also generally inefficient.

Back in February, on my Business Ethics Blog, I wrote about The Ethics of Inefficiency.

This vague association of the small with the ethical misses the fundamental truth that, when it comes to production methods, size brings efficiency. Mass production tends to be efficient in its use of energy, materials, and labour. There are of course tradeoffs and exceptions: it’s entirely possible for a factory mass-producing something to be highly efficient in the use of labour, but to be highly inefficient in the use of, say, water — especially if water is had at no cost. But generally, mass production is efficient; that’s its raison d’etre….

The general point is that smaller is generally less efficient, and inefficiency means (by definition) less output per unit of input. It means getting less for more. In a world focused on conservation, that’s crazy. It’s also worth pointing out what the inefficiency of small-scale production generally means for the standard of living of those who engage in it. As Tim Worstall points out, inefficiency of labour generally amounts to poverty. Small-scale farming may be romantic, but in most places of the world it is a recipe for staying poor. It’s fine if you choose to produce inefficiently, and hence to earn less, as a lifestyle choice for yourself. But it’s not something to be wished on other people.

Posted in agriculture, ethics, factory farms, farmers, industrial, sustainability, values

If you ate today, thank a farmer…and…?

Posted on June 6, 2011 by

Surely you’ve seen this bumper sticker: “If you ate today, thank a farmer.”

That’s fine advice — farmers (of various kinds) play a key role in food production. But it’s also pretty narrow advice.

It would be more accurate to say, “If you ate today, thank a farmer…”

AND…thank a truck driver (for getting the food from place to place)…
AND…thank whoever loaded the boxes onto the truck, and then off again…
AND…thank an engineer for designing the farmer’s tractor…
AND…thank the miner who mined the iron ore that became parts for the farmer’s tractor…
AND…thank an accountant for doing the books at the various companies…
AND…thank the oil company that powered the farmer’s tractor…
AND…thank the grocery store clerk who helped you at the checkout…
AND….?

Posted in agriculture, ethics, farmers | 4 Comments

Things that Matter: Drug Residue in Chinese Pork

Posted on March 28, 2011 by

You could tell a lot about your average foodie or food-safety advocate by asking them to list food-related issues by level of importance. Some people tend to focus on the latest feel-good trend (e.g., at least some versions of localism) and unsupported conjecture (e.g., many versions of the anti-GMO stance). Others focus on, you know, things that really can hurt us and that really require someone identifiable to take action.

Here’s one that really is important:
China pig crisis: Drug residues in pork, By Maryn McKenna, writing for Wired.

In China, more than 2,000 tons of fresh pork and pork products — at a minimum, 4 million pounds — have been recalled because the meat has tested positive for clenbuterol, a stimulant that is illegal in food-producing animals not only in China but in Europe and the United States. Another 1.6 million pigs are being tested….

This one is important not just because of the 4 million pounds of recalled pork, but because of the likelihood of such practices being widespread and undetected, and the likelihood that they could continue into the future. Of course, by calling this an important issue, I’m admittedly revealing my own bias here, in favour of issues that a) are directly related to human health, b) are matters of voluntary human behaviour, and c) matters where some combination of ethics and regulation might have a chance of making things better.

Posted in activism, agriculture, animal welfare, ethics, factory farms, health, international, meat, safety | 4 Comments

Breast Milk Ice Cream?

Posted on February 26, 2011 by

From the BBC: Breast milk ice cream goes on sale in Covent Garden

A restaurant in London’s Covent Garden is serving a new range of ice cream, made with breast milk.

The dessert, called Baby Gaga, is churned with donations from London mother Victoria Hiley, and served with a rusk and an optional shot of Calpol or Bonjela…
….
“Some people will hear about it and go yuck – but actually it’s pure organic, free-range and totally natural.”

And, we could add, its production should please animal welfare and animal rights advocates, since it involves no indentured servitude on the part of animals.

My question, here, is roughly the same as my question about synthetic meat: beyond the “yuck” factor, is there any actual ethical objection to eating ice cream made with human milk?

Posted in animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, milk, natural | 1 Comment