Kahiki® Philosophy
Frozen is Fresher
In many cases this is true. That's because freezing foods at their peak of freshness effectively "pauses" most microbial and oxidative activity. Most frozen vegetables are frozen within 24 hours of being harvested… allowing them to maintain almost all of their healthy levels of vitamins and minerals. Many fresh vegetables take days if not weeks to travel from farms through a distribution network before they reach your grocer's shelves and finally your home. Studies have shown that freezing fresh vegetables helps retain their nutritional value. In one study, the vitamin C level in fresh broccoli was shown to have decreased by 50% in one week, but only 10% after freezing for an entire year! Don't get us wrong, we would never discourage you from choosing fresh vegetables, but it's good to know that frozen vegetables in many cases can be just as healthy.
Sourcing is key.
Since we put so much effort into having pure, natural products, it's, well, natural to want to put as much effort into sourcing our ingredients. For those items that deliver our unique Asian flavors, we search around the globe to find just the right spices and seasonings, like lemongrass from Thailand or specially blended gochujang hot pepper paste from Korea. For our fresh ingredients, we stay as close to home as possible. From Ohio's Deer Creek Honey Farms for their light amber honey, to locally sourced hormone-free chicken to vegetables carefully sourced from select suppliers, the ingredient choices we make are designed to enhance every Kahiki® meal that winds up on your plate.
Our thoughts on labeling regulations.
There is a lot of talk today about food claims and what food companies are doing to be transparent about the foods they produce. We can't control government rules about food claims and regulations, but we can tell you what we believe and how we believe the government should approach this area.
Consumers have the right to know what is in food products so they can make informed choices about what they put in their bodies. Accordingly, it is important that food manufacturers be transparent with their labels, and follow all regulatory requirements.
We believe there should be one consistent set of standards for food labeling. Those standards should be mandatory for all manufacturers, not voluntary. And all standards should be based on proven science and clear standards that are consistently applied.
We believe that labeling and standards are best administered at the federal level. One set of standards makes it easier for consumers, and is critically important for small food manufacturers who don't have the size, scale or resources to comply with state by state regulations. Legislating at the state level will have the effect of causing confusion, reducing choices, increasing prices and stifling innovation, particularly by small food businesses who are the lifeblood of "better for you" foods and food innovation. We also believe there should be one federal agency that administers standards at the federal level. Today we must comply with standards promulgated by both the FDA and the USDA, as well as potentially state level standards.