Green Chef Nutrition Most Commonly Asked Questions

Our USDA-organic certification was issued through CCOF Certification Service, LLC on 5/27/15. NOTE: CCOF is California Certified Of Organic Farmers; a non-profit who provides organic certifications on behalf of the USDA

We support U.S. based local farms when available. There do come times when ingredient orders cannot be fulfilled by local farms due to growing climates, which is when we supply produce from other countries. For a food item to be sold as USDA Certified Organic, whether grown in the United States or anywhere else in the world,  it must meet all the requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (Green Chef is certified for this program through the CCOF). These standards state the ingredient must be produced without the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or irradiation

The USDA National Organic Program is committed to protecting organic integrity through the following activities:

• Audits of certifying agents to ensure appropriate monitoring of organic products

• Annual on-site inspections of approximately 30,000 organic operations by certifying agents

• Residue testing program to verify that prohibited pesticides aren’t being applied to organic crops

• Compliance and enforcement activities, including suspending or revoking organic certificates for regulatory non-compliance

• Issue-based investigations (e.g. country- or commodity-specific)

You can read more about the standards for importing ingredients here.

At Green Chef, we too, are truly passionate about organic food, sustainability, and animal welfare. Many of our ingredients are USDA Certified Organic, but not all. Whether each ingredient is certified or not, we label it clearly and ensure that it meets the high standards kept for all products at Green Chef. The qualifications for meat to be USDA Certified Organic are quite rigorous, and currently we use non-organic meats in our meal kits. We do provide lots of organic goodness inside every kit and whether the ingredient is organic or not, we support producers with an emphasis on being local and family run who follow clean processes.

The goal of the program is to improve the lives of farm animals by driving consumer demand for kinder and more responsible farm animal practices. When you see the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label on a product you can be assured that the food products have come from facilities that meet precise, objective standards for farm animal treatment

You can read more about the Certified Humane organization and certification requirements through this link : https://certifiedhumane.org/

Green Chef is the first meal kit company to receive Gluten-Free Certification through the Gluten Intolerance Group’s Gluten-Free Food Service program, with our certified gluten-free menu option "Keto + Paleo". This certification ensures that every ingredient in this plans contain 10ppm (parts per million) or less of gluten.

We’re passionate about creating premium options for under-served communities in the food landscape, and the gluten-free community is in good company with Green Chef. As many as 1% of Americans suffer from Celiac disease, and upwards of 10% are considered gluten-sensitive. Many of you know that dining out can be a veritable gluten minefield. You can trust Green Chef to provide truly gluten-free solutions.

Net carbs are the total amount of digestible carbs in a portion of food, which does not include any carbs from fiber or sugar alcohols (which are not digestible).

Although the Paleo diet can vary, sweet potatoes and peas are considered Paleo by most. According to The Ultimate Paleo Guide, "Sweet potatoes pass the [Paleo] test because they are low on the glycemic index, they contain high amounts of fiber, potassium, vitamins (particularly vitamin A and beta carotene), and minerals, and low amounts of sodium. Even though sweet potatoes are starchy vegetables that are high in carbs, their benefits outweigh the negative. Yes, sweet potatoes contain sugars and so they do have an effect on blood sugar levels but this effect happens slowly and steadily."

Although slightly controversial, here at Green Chef we also consider peas to be Paleo friendly. To read more about why peas are considered Paleo, we would recommend reading Are Peas Paleo? from paleoplan.com.

Here are the links you could check out :

The Ultimate Paleo Guide - https://ultimatepaleoguide.com/sweet-potatoes-paleo/

paleoplan.com - https://www.paleoplan.com/ingredients/are-peas-paleo/

While we do aim to stay around or under 20 net carbs per meal, you can easily customize to reduce that by making substitutions within your own kitchen! For example, since we provide lots of veggies and sauces in the box, they can be limited to help reduce the overall carb count. Our sauces are sent in excess, as they are meant to be added to taste. Eliminating or limiting the sauce will overall reduce carb count.

The main difference between our Paleo and Keto meals is that our Paleo options features tubers, fruits, as well as Paleo approved sugars - such as coconut sugar, agave, and maple syrup.  Our Keto options will not feature any of these ingredient groups, but does contain milk and other dairy products, where Paleo does not.

Green Chef does not add any MSG (monosodium glutamate) to ingredients or feature ingredients with added MSG. However, MSG does occur naturally in some foods (mainly tomatoes and cheese), so please check with a doctor if you have a serious allergy.

You can find the nutritional facts, as well as, an exact ingredient list on our online recipes. Simply click on the picture of the recipe you wish to view and scroll to the bottom of the page

Please Note: The nutritional information does include the items added from your pantry at home (oil, butter, salt, etc).

Currently, none of our protein options are considered kosher or halal. We do offer our Plant Powered Plan which offers a variety of Vegan and Vegetarian options each week.

We always choose the most sustainable option. Sometimes, wild-caught is not the most sustainable option.  For example, we won’t source endangered wild species, or wild fish during their breeding season. When wild isn’t sustainable, and there is a responsibly farmed option (meaning it does not interfere with wild populations, among other factors), that is what we choose.

There are pros and cons to both sides of this discussion. The cons for aquaculture (sustainably raised)  usually focus on the use of antibiotics, chemicals, and environmental impacts. Green Chef carefully sought out facilities with stringent certification by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, or ASC, to ensure these issues are minimized. Aquaculture also uses other foods than “little fish” to feed the Salmon - meaning more fish stay in the sea. The ASC certification ensures that Green Chef’s Salmon are not being fed things we don’t want and that the feed contains the vitamins and Omega-3 oils Salmon need to be a healthy and flavorful alternative. Farmed Atlantic Salmon is a low-mercury option, similar to wild-caught. In addition, our suppliers ensure trace-ability of the salmon via a chain-of-custody program certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

[From Seafood Watch] Historically, aquaculture received a bad public perception/ reputation – this was somewhat deserving in the early days of the commercial aquaculture industry due to some major environmental impacts that were occurring. Over the last 50 years, the industry has developed into the fastest growing protein production system on the planet, with many new combinations of production systems and species that are specifically designed to minimize environmental impacts. The industry has learned much from its experience and growth, and while there is still much more to be done, the aquaculture industry has come a long way. Over half the seafood produced around the world is farmed, and studies suggest that the overwhelming majority of the seafood Americans eat is from aquaculture. Like beef and chicken farmers, many producers are using globally-accepted best practices and growing great products.

Yes - all of our cheese is pasteurized.

Yes. All plastic used at Green Chef is BPA free.

We are constantly innovating our products and ingredients in order to reduce our carbon footprint. One such example of our sustainability efforts is the use of #4 plastic pouches. While we may ship certain ingredients in other containers, most of your sauces are sent in pouches. The pouches reduce the amount of plastic used in our boxes by up to 85%! You can rinse and recycle the pouches with other #4 plastics. To find a local #4 plastic recycler near you just go to this link : https://search.earth911.com/?utm_source=earth911-header&utm_medium=top-navigation-menu&utm_campaign=top-nav-recycle-search-button

Here are some basic items we recommend that you have on hand for the best cooking experience:

• Pantry items: Salt, pepper, olive oil, high temperature cooking oil (such as vegetable, safflower, canola, avocado, or coconut) or ghee. Read more about which cooking oils to keep in your pantry.

• Tools and equipment frequently used: Pots and pans, ideally in a range of sizes and types such as non-stick and oven safe, chef’s knife, cooking spoon, spatula, strainer, peeler, measuring cup, tablespoon measure, sheet pan and aluminum foil.

• Tools and equipment occasionally used: Grill or grill pan, ladle, tongs, microplane zester, box grater, teaspoon measure, tablespoon and thermometer.

The CCOF (California Certified of Organic Farmers) is a non-profit who provides organic certifications on behalf of the USDA. Green Chef is a CCOF certified company.