White House Will Not Say Where It Gets Its Meat

First Lady Michelle Obama is on a laudable food crusade in America -- promoting the healthful benefits of fresh, local and sustainably grown nutrition, including produce raised in the world's most famous vegetable garden: that photogenic patch of organic land on the White House South Lawn. But her office does not want you to know what the Obamas had for dinner last night. Soon after the inauguration, The New York Times gushed that "the White House gets fresh fruits and vegetables from farms in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey," and that Michelle Obama had served organic wine at her first big White House meal, a governors' dinner in February, 2009. And she planted that garden heard 'round the world. Suggested by Alice Waters, the plot consists of raised beds of rich soil amended with official White House compost, crab meal, lime and local sand, instead of commercial fertilizer, and ladybugs and praying mantises in lieu of pesticides. There are even two beehives that produce organic honey for the Obamas, their staff and guests. And so, when I wrote to the White House to inquire about the meat, dairy and eggs that are served up on site -- and how much of it is produced in industrial-style concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs, or factory farms) -- I thought they would be pleased to share the information...more

So why won't they say? Is it because a huge chunk passes through a CAFO, or is it because they don't eat meat at all?

As for the "official White House compost", it's served up to the public on a daily basis.