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  1. TopTop #1
    flygal
     

    Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    So I recently bought a bag of Organic Brown Sugar from Community market---Then I happened to look closely at the label. Sure, it is certified organic by all the "right" organizations here in the US. However, below that, it says Product of Paraguay.
    So I had to do some further research and googled good ole' Woodstock Farms in CT and want to share with you what I found out.

    Unfortunately, Your big mega healthfood stores like Whole Foods and many others appear to just sell "names" with warm fuzzy images to make us think our purchases are so humane and good for the planet.. but the real scoop is that these products get around most real certification laws.. pick out some products in your pantry that are organic (like Horizon Milk) and google to see just what you will find out. The advertising is very misleading...

    Here is yet another piece of info. I found from my search. Is there ever honesty in any food labeled certified organic and where it comes from??
    Truth in Packaging: Organic Edition

    I've been reading Michal Pollan's latest, The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is about the increasing alienation we Americans have from our food sources. Even ostensibly organic food is more and more a product of the industrial complex so much so that what we think of as organic is reduced to a mere shadow of its former ideal. To wit:
    Brought this home from the supermarket last week.

    Woodstock Farms Baby French Beans. Organic even. Cool, huh?
    What's even cooler is this:

    A little food philosophy for you: it reads "Picked at the height of ripeness, bringing them straight to market and shortening the distance from the farm to you". I love this idea of shortening the distance between where the food is grown and my house. It makes me feel like there are still farmers out there who might be working the land their parents did. Like this Woodstock Farms. That we could also buy a bag of this from the market is very appealing come February, eh? But wait! Look at the back of the bag:

    See all that warm and fuzzy organic certification? Everyone who hands out these little honour badges seems to have jumped at the chance to slap their seal of approval on these baby green beans. Makes you feel kind of superior, doesn't it?
    But then you see this . . .

    Product of China? Huh? Whatever happened to all that talk about "shortening the distance"? You mean, it's just marketing? You mean it's a lie? Right there on the package? I guess that concept of "distance" is some kind of metaphor. One that stands for something other than mega-gallons of petroleum and half and earth's worth of highway and ocean miles.
    Man.
    Read the fine print.
    Suckah. As was the case with my "organic brown sugar" from the very same farm.. but no, it's a product of Paraguay.....suckah again!
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  2. TopTop #2
    Lenny
    Guest

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    Can we say "marketing"? And "government speak"?
    I thought the USDA had no agreed upon definition for "organic"? And if they have a skeletal meaning, would it apply to foreign imports? And "shortening the distance" could be a temporal issue, rather than a geographical matter, no? Welcome to One World so many have been straining to get. They lie?
    And thanks for doing the homework. I gather it was fun.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by flygal: View Post
    So I recently bought a bag of Organic Brown Sugar from Community market---Then I happened to look closely at the label. Sure, it is certified organic by all the "right" organizations here in the US. However, below that, it says Product of Paraguay.
    So I had to do some further research and googled good ole' Woodstock Farms in CT and want to share with you what I found out.

    Unfortunately, Your big mega healthfood stores like Whole Foods and many others appear to just sell "names" with warm fuzzy images to make us think our purchases are so humane and good for the planet.. but the real scoop is that these products get around most real certification laws.. pick out some products in your pantry that are organic (like Horizon Milk) and google to see just what you will find out. The advertising is very misleading...

    Here is yet another piece of info. I found from my search. Is there ever honesty in any food labeled certified organic and where it comes from??
    Truth in Packaging: Organic Edition

    I've been reading Michal Pollan's latest, The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is about the increasing alienation we Americans have from our food sources. Even ostensibly organic food is more and more a product of the industrial complex so much so that what we think of as organic is reduced to a mere shadow of its former ideal. To wit:
    Brought this home from the supermarket last week.

    Woodstock Farms Baby French Beans. Organic even. Cool, huh?
    What's even cooler is this:

    A little food philosophy for you: it reads "Picked at the height of ripeness, bringing them straight to market and shortening the distance from the farm to you". I love this idea of shortening the distance between where the food is grown and my house. It makes me feel like there are still farmers out there who might be working the land their parents did. Like this Woodstock Farms. That we could also buy a bag of this from the market is very appealing come February, eh? But wait! Look at the back of the bag:

    See all that warm and fuzzy organic certification? Everyone who hands out these little honour badges seems to have jumped at the chance to slap their seal of approval on these baby green beans. Makes you feel kind of superior, doesn't it?
    But then you see this . . .

    Product of China? Huh? Whatever happened to all that talk about "shortening the distance"? You mean, it's just marketing? You mean it's a lie? Right there on the package? I guess that concept of "distance" is some kind of metaphor. One that stands for something other than mega-gallons of petroleum and half and earth's worth of highway and ocean miles.
    Man.
    Read the fine print.
    Suckah. As was the case with my "organic brown sugar" from the very same farm.. but no, it's a product of Paraguay.....suckah again!
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  3. TopTop #3
    The A Team's Avatar
    The A Team
    Supporting Member

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    Hi All,
    Here are some ways to help find out more about the foods in local stores.
    First off I have been a long time shopper at Santa Rosa Community Market, one of the many reasons I buy my food there is that they take the time to find out about the foods they keep on the shelves. To see if there are farmed in safe ways to the environment, protecting the people who work for the farm, are not using toxic chemicals and basically being a researcher for you.
    Here are some links to help with taking actions to protect our food supply. If you are looking for foods that are closer to you stick with the local farmers markets and get some honey instead of sugar cane.Companies like kraft foods are buying up organic food producers. See the store bulletin board at back of the store for more info. SRCM buys from local farmers like Meadow Song Farms in Sebastopol. When the owner brings his produce into the store, he is so dedicated to the environment he brings the produce on a bike and bike trailer. The staff at SRCM is very helpful and can tell you about the products they carry and why.
    Whole Paycheck does not care about the source of the food and recently didn’t respond to over 100,000 consumer letters about natural beef farming practices that thad FDA violationsas well as labor violations.


    www.organicconsumers.org/

    https://www.organicconsumers.org/action.cfm

    Here's a list of actions you can take right now to help build a strong economy, based on sustainable agriculture, while protecting your health and the environment!
    Latest Action Alerts
    • 02/22/08 - ALERT - EPA to Allow Factory Farms to Ignore Clean Air Standards
    • 02/10/08 - Alert: Moratorium on Agrofuel Incentives
    • 02/08/08 - ALERT: USDA Extends Comment Period: Stop Deceptive Labeling of "Naturally Raised" Meat
    • 02/08/08 - ALERT - EPA Take Public Comments on Banning Toxic Pesticide Endosulfan
    • 01/30/08 - Alert: Unlabeled Allergens in Food Threaten Children's Health
    • 01/17/08 - Alert: FDA Approves Food From Cloned Animals
    • 01/17/08 - Action Alert: Consumers May Lose Right to Buy rBGH-Free Milk
    • 11/29/07 - ALERT: Stop Genetically Engineered Sugar
    • 11/28/07 - ALERT: USDA Proposes Rule Undermining Organics and Small Farms
    • 11/11/07 - Farm Bill Alert: Senate to Vote on Bill This Week!
    • 10/31/07 - Alert: House Chair of Agriculture Committee Says Organic Consumers are 'Dumb'
    • 10/20/07 - ALERT: EPA Approves Pesticide Known to Cause Cancer and Miscarriages
    • 10/17/07 - Alert Update: Rule Requiring Pasteurization of Raw Almonds Goes Into Effect
    • 10/16/07 - Alert: USDA Accepting Comments on Deregulation of a GE Soybean Variety
    • 10/04/07 - Alert: Iraq Peace Pledge: No More Money for War
    • 08/22/07 - ALERT: USDA Says Foods Labeled as 'Raw' Can Be Pasteurized
    • 08/10/07 - ALERT - Chemically Grown Hops Allowed in Organic Beers?
    • 08/07/07 - 2007 Farm Bill Moves to the Senate - Contact Your Senator Now!
    • 07/25/07 - URGENT: House to Vote on 2007 Farm Bill - Act Now to Support Family Farms!
    • 06/26/07 - NAIS ALERT - Keep Big Brother Out of Farm Bill
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  4. TopTop #4
    Lorrie
    Guest

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    Yeah, but did you get that.... FRENCH Beans... FROM CHINA?
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  5. TopTop #5
    The A Team's Avatar
    The A Team
    Supporting Member

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Lorrie: View Post
    Yeah, but did you get that.... FRENCH Beans... FROM CHINA?
    Here is the plight of real peopls vs. Whole Foods
    Beef Northwest workers want to fly to Texas and personally turn in their petition to Whole Foods.
    Can you help them?
    Beef Northwest workers are excited. More than 9,000 people have already signed the petition they’ll hand into Whole Foods the week of March 17. Can you make a donation to help us fund sending these workers from Oregon to Texas?

    Workers at the Beef Northwest feedlots that include Country Natural Beef cows have been demanding UFW representation for the past eight months. Whole Foods reportedly sells 60% of all Country Natural Beef. This retailer--the largest chain of "natural food" stores in the US--has refused to take any action to resolve this situation.

    Manuel Rivero Rivos said, "I'm in charge of keeping the corrals clean. If it wasn't for me, the animals would be in very bad conditions, there would be no hygiene in the corrals. The work that I perform is very important. And even though I play such an important role in the company, they don't value me. Not as a worker and not as a human being.

    "I want to tell the thousands of people that see this e-mail that we need your support to go to Texas. Upon presenting the petition to Whole Foods, I would feel proud of defending my rights as a worker. We are no longer in times of slavery, we need to follow the steps of Cesar Chavez and defend ourselves."

    Fortunato Diaz Menjarez tells us about the conditions he is forced to endure and his desperate need for medical insurance. He and his wife were in a car accident last year. His wife ended up in a coma for a month. She is now OK, but Fortunato is working two jobs to work off the $50,000 debt and is unable to spend barely any time with his family.

    Fortunato says, "I want to present the petition to show them [Whole Foods] that I matter as a person and I deserve a contract...I believe that if Whole Foods would support us, they could make BNW give us a contract."

    Help the workers show Whole Foods the groundswell of support for their cause by sending them to Texas to personally hand in the petition. The cost for airfare, food and housing for four workers to fly to Texas to hand in the petition will cost around $5,600. Could you make a donation today to help give these brave workers the opportunity to be heard?

    Please make your donation today!


    Let's all come together to help farm workers. Please share this e-mail with your friends.

    ** If you haven't signed the Whole Foods petition, please click here and do so today.

    Check out our website at: www.ufw.org and keep up with the latest news.
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  6. TopTop #6
    flygal
     

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    Yes, but the very sugar that started this whole post from me came from Santa Rosa Community Market so I guess they don't really know about where all of the food they sell comes from. It seems to me that big business and marketing can't really ever be trusted. Everybody is out to make money somehow.... Here is the link for the place the I bought from SRCM actually comes from https://www.woodstock-farms.com/
    It is a MANUFACTURER even though the website would have you believe they are a quaint little place with total reverance for the land and the farmers... Check it out yourself. So they look great on a website, but they don't grow the French Beans or the CAne sugar or any of the bazillion products they sell.... but they sure do have a nice website. Makes me want to go and visit.
    Last edited by Barry; 03-03-2008 at 11:15 AM.
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  7. TopTop #7
    flygal
     

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    PS. I did contact this so called Woodstock Farm https://www.woodstock-farms.com/ and asked them why the sugar I bought is a product of Paraguay when they are promoting the whole local concept and helping our American farmers and do you think I got any replies??

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by flygal: View Post
    Yes, but the very sugar that started this whole post from me came from Santa Rosa Community Market so I guess they don't really know about where all of the food they sell comes from. It seems to me that big business and marketing can't really ever be trusted. Everybody is out to make money somehow.... Here is the link for the place the I bought from SRCM actually comes from https://www.woodstock-farms.com/
    It is a MANUFACTURER even though the website would have you believe they are a quaint little place with total reverance for the land and the farmers... Check it out yourself. So they look great on a website, but they don't grow the French Beans or the CAne sugar or any of the bazillion products they sell.... but they sure do have a nice website. Makes me want to go and visit.
    Last edited by flygal; 02-27-2008 at 10:40 PM. Reason: Two words in a row
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  8. TopTop #8
    The A Team's Avatar
    The A Team
    Supporting Member

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    That is great that you are researching the source of foods! It is an endlessly facinating subject for me.

    My experience in shopping at Community Market is the staff have always been willing to talk to me about food sources, which ones are local and sutainable and those that aren't.
    Some of the people there have done literally years and years of research and are incredibly knowlegeable- such as Derek, Hope and Mel , Angelica, Nic, Matt and others. Did you speak with one of them?

    Also, I would really like to encourage you to check out the organic consumers action group. For a long time they have led the charge to protect us.

    www.organicconsumers.org
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  9. TopTop #9
    janna24
    Guest

    Re: Is your food REALLY ORGANIC?

    I don't usually get involved in the heated discussions on this website preferring instead to read them and keep my opinions to myself, but this post reaches close to home for me. In past lives I have been an organic grower and also owned a small local grocery store specializing in whole foods ( idea being not processed into something it does not originally resemble)

    The discussion about real organic food seems to be a very thin line when you actually examine the standards required to become certified organic, and it is almost a moot point to say a productis more organic because it is certified and came from Chile than these local ones that are not certified but you can certainly speak to the grower about his or her practices.

    Since my idea of good practices is more about maintaining an ecologically sensible balance it seems to me that any product that is certified organic but is grown in a large enough scale to be mass produced and boxed(ie organic cereal, or soy milk) is probably not what we meant when we said we wanted organic and sustainable practices. If you must grow on a large scale, organic is much better, but it still upsets the local balance of nature to have thousands of acres farmed for organic foods. It is a misnomer to think that these products are not treated with pesticides since if you think about it, any field of size is a huge cry for the bugs that love it to come eat it. And don't think that the pesticides are not allowed to be used, because they are. They are just called "organic pesticides." Go read the standards and then think about how a large scale grower could maintain the level of quality and profitability that they obviously do.

    I feel that as consumers we really are constantly duped with products that market to our "sustainable ideals". Every time I see "natural" on products like processed cheese popcorn or some other ridiculous idea,I have to think that maybe we as consumers have not put enough thought into our choices. It is not a matter of more legislation to make these large companies fill our demands, it is about making our food choices every day. Use the power of the dollar to decide what products are marketed to us as consumers. And if we keep buying into the confusion and misleading information it is we who are the foolish ones. So keep it local and least processed and above all have an understanding of products we buy and which can be produced here. We live in a breadbasket and we want to buy sugar from Paraguay when we have the most fabulous honey available right here!

    Let's search out and support our local whole foods producers and vote with our dollars! That is how they will learn to listen to our desires. And maybe we can start practicing what we preach and grow some of our own products in a sustainable way being low impact on our own backyards!
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