Is Your Organic Food Really Organic?
When you buy food with a "USDA organic" label, do you know what you're getting? Now is a good time to ask such a question, as the USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China.
Chinese imports have had a bad year in the news, making headlines for contaminated pet food, toxic toys, and recently, certified organic ginger contaminated with levels of a pesticide called aldicarb that can cause nausea, headaches and blurred vision even at low levels. The ginger, sold under the 365 label at Whole Foods Market, contained a level of aldicarb not even permissible for conventional ginger, let alone organics. Whole Foods immediately pulled the product from its shelves.
http://waronyou.com/forums/index.php?topic=655.0
The USDA has redefined and
The USDA has redefined and watered down the term "Organic" anyway at the behest of their corporate ag buddies. Do you know that beef raised in confinement operations can now be labeled "grass fed"? Yup, they can. Toss 'em a few corn stalks in their tiny pens. The USDA will pass whatever rules Corporate Ag wants. They have no qualms about changing their story every time they get backed into a corner.
Another rather alarming thing is ridding ourselves of salmonelly by consuming additional viruses. While the concept of getting rid of salmonella producing bacteria certainly has some merit, I find doing with bacteria-phage viruses quite alarming. Who is to say the viruses won't mutate and go after a new food supply in our bodies? Am I unduly paranoid about intentionally introducing new viruses into my system? Intralytix is cocktail of five viruses that will (or is) being sprayed on food, especially deli products, to kill salmonella. Please note that it has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a food additive and that foods containing these viruses do not have to be labelled as such. Now is it approved to be sprayed all over kitchens, especially public kitchens.
The only way to get food you know is clean is to buy it from local farmers. You cannot trust the USDA to tell the truth about anything, much less protect you from GMO's, cattle and birds raised in unhealthy confined feeding environments.
Pat
BOHICA!!
Organic, of course
They might contain a few minerals, but all food is organic. So is gasoline, snake venom and ricin. Just because it's organic, doesn't mean it's good for you. Most pesticides are organic and they're not good for bugs. Nicotene is a pesticide.
Ok, you meant "organically" grown. If you're going to make a specific definition, then you'll have to define the term. I guess that's what the government has done.
As usual, the government regulation of "organic" has caused an added, expensive, layer of cost for small, local farmers. They may not use pesticides, but not be able to get certification because of the cost. Ever wonder why "organic" costs more? It isn't always a supply/demand issue.
Excuse me while I step outside, now, and get irradiated by the sun.
As for the Chinese and all other producers: things that are relatively common knowledge here about safety, may not be there. If they want us as customers, they will make every effort to solve any problems that come up. That's the free-market at work. It will take time and there will be many more safety problems with products imported from third-world countries, especially, as they get up to speed.
IMissLiberty
IMissLiberty
I was trying to find out who the 15 were, this is all I can find
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-12-13-3677522660_...
http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0613-01.htm
Scorecard:
http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html
Organic and IRRADIATED
...even if a fruit, a nut or a vegetable was organically grown, rest assured that if it originated from another country, it has been sufficiently irradiated for our protection, of course. Even CA has mandated that all almonds must now be irradiated...god forbid that any American have a single nutritionally sound food source.
Why have they done that??
Why have they done that?? Irradiation was just developed a few years ago. Why would they pass a law to adulterate almonds? You guys need to jumpo on your lawmakers and expose their bedfellows...
Because raw almonds
are one of the best sources of nutrients to help with cholesterol and contain huge other health benefits.
Maybe I'm stupid
but I wonder if any food can be organic. Do'nt plants cross pollinate and such. So unless there is somewhere in a far off remote area where even insects and birds ca'nt carry pollin from one plant to another. How can any food be truly organic? Just a thought.
You're not stupid
That's true in some cases but in others different rules apply. For example we grow aloe, but since it doesn't need pollination to bear leaves we don't have to worry about it. If we need more plants we clone the best producer out the the bunch.
That's the idea, actually.
That's the idea, actually. Watch the World according to Monsanto http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/the-world-acc...
Ultimately there's two kinds of GMO seeds. Terminator vs Predator - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlBsdV2BARk
Cross pollination is part of the game. If their seed contaminates your land and you grow organic you're now guilty of theft. the GMO plants are immune to herbicide that your organic plants are not and so the GMO will take over.
In the future you'll will have to grow organic foods using hydroponics on a massive scale. Right now people are designing skyfarms, basically skyscrapers that are greenhouses.
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." - Thomas Jefferson
"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it."
huh?
huh?