Gone are the bright, grocery-store reds and taut cellophane wrappings. In their place are the burgundy tones of animal muscle wrapped in air-tight packaging.

When customers open the meat and expose it to air, it will gain its familiar red hues.

The change is part of Weaver Street's new meat initiative, which combines vacuum-sealed packaging with a commitment to buy entire animals from local farmers. Local beef and pork now constitute roughly half the store's beef and pork selection, a ratio that will increase as Weaver Street continues to build relationships with local farmers.

The new program continues Weaver Street's commitment to authentic -- as opposed to organic -- foods. It follows a January decision to stop selling foods containing trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. In 2006, Weaver Street also ended its relationship with Horizon Organic after the company was accused of skirting official U.S. Department of Agriculture organic standards.

"The fact that something has the label of organic is not necessarily always a guarantee by itself," said Claudia Tolan, head merchandiser at Weaver Street.

Cat Moleski, a spokeswoman for Weaver Street, said authentic food involves "a web of understanding." Authentic might mean foods grown with fewer fertilizers and additives; it might mean local foods that support biodiversity and take less gas to transport.

Finding consistent supplies of local meat can be difficult. Lacking a dependable small-farm producer of chicken, for instance, Weaver Street has been using a farm in Pennsylvania.

Jerri Roberson, manager of Cliff's Meat Market in Carrboro, said Cliff's has trouble finding quality suppliers of whole animals or "swinging" beef, so named because of the way the sides of an animal swing from hooks. More than 90 percent of Cliff's pork comes from North Carolina or South Carolina, though they buy their beef from western states.

Roberson, who expressed her support for Weaver Street's new program, said Cliff's would be open to buying more meat locally if there was a dependable, affordable supply.

The problem, Tolan said, is ensuring farmers are paid a fair price. "That means a price that they can support their farm and their family [with]," she said.

As part of its new program, Weaver Street has pledged to pay local pork growers 18 percent more than the next highest paid buyer. Moleski said customers will not pay a premium on the local meat.

The campaign relies on Weaver Street finding a consistent supply of local beef and pork. To do this, Weaver Street worked with Raleigh-based non-profit NC Choices and Durham-based FoodLogiQ, a food systems management company. Unlike most grocers, who purchase only the most popular cuts of an animal, Weaver Street will now purchase whole hogs and steers from local farmers.

The longer shelf life promised by vacuum packaging will allow Weaver Street to purchase an entire animal's worth of cuts. Weaver Street's Food House, opened in July in Hillsborough, will turn cuts that don't sell well on the shelf, like ribs, into pre-prepared meals. "They've got to now find a way to use all parts of that animal or it's not profitable for anybody," said Jennifer Curtis, project director at NC Choices.

"You can't just snap your fingers and say 'I want some grass-fed beef and some pasture-raised pork locally,'" added Curtis. Year-round production is plausible only if farmers are assured the animals they invest in raising will be purchased.

NC Choices has helped establish relationships between Weaver Street and local farmers. Many local farmers sell at farmers' markets and through meat-buying clubs, but they sometimes need help selling animals to large grocers.

"Marketing is the one thing that scares me to death," said Renee Parker, who operates Parker Farms with her husband Randall and their four children in Hurdle Mills. The family only recently began raising hogs as they looked to rely less heavily on their tobacco crop. They now sell their hogs to Weaver Street and Whole Foods. With the help of NC Choices, the family has even created a Web site.

While NC Choices has helped Weaver Street establish relationships with farmers, FoodLogiQ has assisted both farmers and processors in preparing their products. Judson Armentrout, director of FoodLogiQ's sustainability practice, steered Weaver Street toward vacuum packaging. The process, which has been available for years and is frequently used with bacon, removes the oxidizing air from the package, retarding bacteria growth but also stripping meat of its bright color.

The difference in color, said Armentrout, has been the main reason more grocers have not adopted the packaging system.

"There's certain expectations, and one of those expectations is meat is supposed to be red," he said. Armentrout also claims the process, which is more expensive than the traditional packaging, will "pay for itself" by increasing the shelf life of the meat. "You're gonna be able to keep product on the shelf to allow it time to sell," he said.

Weaver Street will begin using vacuum packaging on seafood by the end of the year.