Does “Organic” Really Mean Organic?
I think most of us know the answer to that question. But this article posted recently at [CommonDreams] highlights a fairly egregious example of what amounts to criminal “oversight” by our government when it comes to the organic classification of food products.
A deadline of midnight Friday to come up with a new list of nonorganic ingredients allowed in USDA-certified organic products passed without action from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, leaving uncertain whether some foods currently labeled “USDA organic” would continue to be produced.
The agency is considering a list of 38 nonorganic ingredients that will be permitted in organic foods. Because of the broad uses of these ingredients - as colorings and flavorings, for example - almost any type of manufactured organic food could be affected, including cereal, sausage, bread and beer.
Organic food advocates have fought to block approval of some or all of the proposed ingredients, saying consumers would be misled.
“This proposal is blatant catering to powerful industry players who want the benefits of labeling their products ‘USDA organic’ without doing the work to source organic materials,” said Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Assn. of Finland, Minn., a nonprofit group that boasts 850,000 members.
Basically, the USDA may be allowing a whole bunch of clearly non-organic garbage to be used in food products labeled as “organic.” I thought this comment on the piece, from Blue Heron Bakery, really cut right to the heart of the issue:
After spending the last twenty years of my life promoting natural and organic sustainable foods, I can not tell you how sick it is that these folks jump in and try to co-opt organic for no other reason than market share.
And that’s it, in a pesticide-infused nutshell. Powerful corporate lobbies can, through legislation, have their lies federally mandated simply to increase their profits. The little guys go out of their way to produce a quality item that consumers want and need, and they experience success. Then the big guys come in and make something that looks like the genuine article, but ain’t. They make it cheaper (by ignoring the characteristics that made it a desirable product in the first place), and sell it cheaper, and harder, with slick marketing, and in the end marginalize those who were doing it right to begin with. The age-old story, I guess. Which doesn’t make me any less pissed about it.
