Pasta & Co Removes All Additives from Its Menu

Banishing MSG, artificial flavorings, synthetic colorings, nitrites, nitrates and more, Pasta & Co, a Seattle favorite for more than 20 years serving ready-to-eat-or-heat epicurean fare, today announced that it will now offer only pure, additive-free foods. The bold move involves more than 170 items, including fresh deli dishes, ready-to-heat frozen foods and an array of hard-to-find, specialty pantry items. Each product sold in the Company's four neighborhood stores will now be dished up or sold to customers without synthetic or chemical food additives.

Before embarking on its change, Pasta & Co conducted exhaustive research to learn as much as it could about additives and was astounded to find how many seemingly healthy foods or foods marketed as healthful actually contain additives. The list of synthetic ingredients and flavoring or coloring additives was long and included calcium disodium EDTA, MSG, synthetic sweeteners, hydrogenated oils/trans fats, and hydrolyzed vegetable protein, among many others. The company then spent three months working with vendors to update and reformulate its inventory and menu. Items or ingredients that did not meet the "pure" criteria were dropped.

"This has been a real learning journey for us. We've concluded that food additives of any kind may be unhealthy, unsafe, unnecessary in many instances, and mask a serious lack of true nutritional value in today's processed foods," said Kurt Beecher Dammeier, Pasta & Co's owner. "We're proud to eliminate additives from everything we make and sell and offer only pure, unadulterated, great-tasting products that have not been corrupted by the addition of preservatives, flavor enhancers or coloring agents and we believe our customers will value the change."

Pasta & Co promotes the concept that everyone should purchase, prepare and eat food with care and awareness, which means considering the source of food products, the ingredients that make up food, and the taste of food. Dammeier went on to say that, "As a culture, American palates have been conditioned in the past 25 years to prefer the taste of highly processed, additive-laced foods. Some retraining of taste buds may be required so that we once again savor and celebrate the authentic flavors of wholesome, nutritious foods, but the taste of food with integrity is more than worth it."

To spread the word, the Company has set a lofty goal for itself -- to change the way that people think about food and how they eat, one customer at a time. As a step in educating the community about the benefits of eating pure food, Pasta & Co has joined its sister company, Beecher's Handmade Cheese, to establish the Flagship Program. Under this non-profit program, 1% of all retail sales are allocated to a fund offering grants to non-profit organizations teaching about the benefits of pure, all-natural food.

About Pasta & Co

Founded in 1982 with a single store in University Village, Pasta & Co quickly grew to become a Seattle icon and THE convenient neighborhood source for pure, restaurant-quality food with take-home convenience. Today, the company sells fresh deli foods, ready-to-heat frozen foods and specialty pantry products in four stores in University Village, Queen Anne, Bellevue and Redmond, and on its website, www.pastaco.com. Pasta & Co shares its values and pure food philosophy with its sister company, Beecher's Handmade Cheese, Seattle's only artisan cheesemaker founded in 2003 and located in the heart of the city's historic Pike Place Market.

Reader Comments:

Be the first to leave a comment for this article