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My family tries to eat organic food. I would say that we are in the 75% range of organic foods vs. non-organic. We aren’t perfect, nor are we doing all that we can. But I wanted to talk about something that recently bothered me regarding an “organic” item that I rather enjoyed.
I used to get these Chewy Granola Bars that were USDA organic. One day, they were taken off the shelf of our local supermarket. They were removed because of the recent peanut salmonella scare. I walked around the store to get my other items and I noticed something that I felt was strange - that many different products were removed from the shelves because of the Salmonella scare. This was due to the supposed deplorable conditions at the Peanut Corporation of America plants. Many of the other items that were off the shelves were not organic.
How could it be that organic and non-organic products would be using the same peanuts? Organic peanuts could end up in non-organic products, of course. But, why would they not label their products as containing organic peanuts, when it is such a marketable item these days? It just did not make sense.
I wanted to inquire with the company that made these granola bars. I found that the website for this company touted “Organic since 1972″ and “…is also a real place — a working, active, productive farm dedicated to bringing wholesome organic food to your table.” Now this at first led me to believe that the farm pictured in their advertisement was the actual farm to produce their product.
When I decided to email this company, I was taken to a huge company’s website contact form. Huh…
A little further research led me to the information “…said it has no reason to believe there is a safety issue with these products, but that it is taking the action, as a precaution, because peanut pieces in the products may have been sourced from the Plainview, Texas, plant of Peanut Corporation of America.”
Is this company that owned the Peanut plant really an organic farm? At the very least, is it a clean organic farm? Who certified this farm as organic? It has been said that the farm did not properly supply documents regarding it’s organic farming. And as the bottom line, aren’t the products from the farm listed on their website?
The response to me was essentially that only these few products were at issue and everything else was OK. Now, I want to point out that the few products at issue, were products that I consumed almost daily. I wonder if that counted as a bad thing in their eyes?
My point with this is that the term “organic” seems to have been diminished and compromised, especially by large corporations that generally care about their bottom line. If “organic” is fashionable now, then these companies may want to grab onto the term without really doing the leg-work involved in truly being organic.
I believe this to be one more account of marketing replacing truth. In fact I think that our country is slowly and systematically being conditioned into believing that “something” is actually “something else”. This is done, often enough, by creating laws, often through lobbyists, that dictate “truth”. In the example above, does the term “organic” really get us just that? Does the USDA standard of organics actually measure up vs. true organic farming? I fear, in the account above, it does not.
We, as a people, might do better if we start to understand the difference between “moral” and “legal”. “Legal” does not necessarily mean “good” nor does “good” always become law.
keith this was an excellent article - you should seriously consider submitting to organic family magazine or equivalent.
The good news is there are federal standards established by the USDA to govern the use of terms such as “100% Organic” (must be just that), “Organic” (must be at least 95% of the products), and “Made with Organic Ingredients” (must contain at least 70% organic products). The USDA organics seal can only be used by the first two categories. Misuse of the labeling results in some stiff fines. Foods or products labeled in one of these three categories must not be irradiated, and/or use genetically modified substances, sewer-sludge fertilizer (Yuk!), synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and/or include organic and non-organic forms of the same ingredient in a product. [Check out http://www.FoodNews.org for a list of the most pesticide contaminated fruits and vegs.] It is true also that organic foods have been shown to be much higher in various nutrients than non-organic foods because of the higher quality soil in which they are grown. All that said, I agree the USDA is mediocre at best at overseeing appropriate use of the organic labeling. However, having some federal standards with oversight (such that it is) is better than having nothing in place. Some states not satisfied with the federal regulations, [states including California and Oregon,] have organics regulations exceeding those of the USDA and also have their own labeling. An alternative to have greater confidence that the food you are eating is truly organic would be to grow your own food or seek out a local Farmer’s Market for farmers you trust to grow “true organic” produce. We need to be discerning about our food…the food we eat becomes our cellular tissue, which becomes our organs, which ultimately determines our state of health, and even more important, the future health of our children.
thanks mom
organic products…
Your topic Organic Agriculture: Is It Sustainable? Is It Viable? was interesting when I found it on Tuesday searching for organic products…
Interesting health information, definitely something I can use. Thanks.