Do you "believe in" organic food?

How can you trust in your "Organic Food" after reading this:

"When is organic not organic? When the U.S. Government gets involved and allows crony capitalists to control and ruin everything
that’s good and pure is the answer.

What’s the matter with these people? Are they insane? There is a huge uproar about the term organic, as in organic food. Lots of major ‘food’ corporations want to cash in and have been cashing in. They want
to be labeled organic. Rather than become organic though, they push for
organic to be defined away. They push for non-organic to be labeled
organic. They push for synthetics to be labeled organic.

Look, if you want to become organic, then become organic. Organic is purely organic. There is no 99% organic that is 100% organic. If they want to sell stuff that isn’t completely organic, then label it as
partially organic. Label the ingredients that aren’t organic as what
they are: synthetic. If the complete product is 99% organic, then say
so. If the 1% that is non-organic is pure poison, then ban it. If it’s
questionable, then ban it. If it has been shown to be highly likely
harmless, then it will be up to those who dissent to publicize their
dissenting opinions, which should not be censored under any
circumstances.

Right now, food that is only 95% organic is labeled organic. That’s evil. That’s lying. That’s making it impossible for consumers to choose purely organic foods without having to do huge independent research.
That was never intended by the people who invented the concept of
organic foods — the ‘health food nuts.’ It is those people who came up
with the whole industry who should have been the arbiters. Too bad so
many of them sold out to the devil: the huge food corporations that
bought them up and then turned organics into 5% synthetics. What a rip
off.

Purity of Federal ‘Organic’ Label Is Questioned

USDA Organic labeled food is a system used to help identify foods that are organic. Congress adopted the organics law in 2002 after farmers and consumers demanded uniform standards for produce, dairy and
meat. The law banned synthetics, pesticides and genetic engineering
from foods that would bear a federal organic label. It also required
annual testing for pesticides. And it was aimed at preventing producers
from falsely claiming their foods were organic.

However, there is concern that the label may have become meaningless. ‘If we don’t protect the brand, the organic label, the program is finished. It could disappear overnight’ Sen. Patrick Leahy
stated.
Here are some of the revelations from the Washington Post article:

‘Organic’ beer has non-organic hops.
‘Organic’ baby food has synthetic fatty acids.
‘Organic’ milk can come from factory-like feed lots without grass.
The law required annual testing for pesticides, but USDA hasn’t enforced the requirement.
The National Organic Standards Board has approved 245 non-organic substances for inclusion in “organic” labeled food
‘Organic’ mock duck has synthetic additives to make it stringy.
Corporations Kellogg, Kraft, Coca-Cola, and Dole are big players in ‘organic’ food.

Regulators appear to see their mission as more to grow the supposedly ‘organic’ industry than to actually assure consumers are getting the organic food they paid for."

(found at this website: http://organicjar.com/2009/1545/ )

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Permalink Reply by Fruitlicious on August 11, 2010 at 11:26pm

You've nailed it quite a bit!
I agree, to cut down the prices, the best way is ordering in bulk and have good logistics in production and shipping. Like you, I've also talked to a big fruit importing company (3 years back or so), they have any tropical food you can mention. They were willing to send boxes to me, but could not send it to me directly, but have to do this to a supermarket or toko. This is a regulation over here. And these shops and tokos, didn't want to take it on. I only succeeded with the young coconuts for a while. (not available in supermarkets, only the undigestable mature ones).
Then we have the so called wholesalers, I don't know with what to compare it to, in Holland (probably Makro or Sligro or something), went there, nothing organic and practically as expensive as in the regular supermarkets, conventional very unripe.

There's such an extreme quality control, also on the organic produce. Unripe fruit always looks better and has no bugs. (I mean, show me a bug or fruitfly that likes unripe fruit). Lol.
So, that's about logistics, like one of the situations you described (including some bribery here and there, yes).
Also and maybe, farmers in poor countries might want to get rid of their harvest in early stages so they can pay their bills on time. But I don't know if that happens often or if the time of harvesting is regulated by multinationals already.

I have always wonderd, why isn't it on the fruit packiging, or label, when the fruit is actually sprayed, what pesticides they used (how much is in the fruit) and what fertilizer has there been used and how is it treated after harvesting? (like sulphur baths, waxing, irradiation etc). That is more of the type of 'quality control' information I like to see. As we become a global village more and more, I think we have the right to know. I think the juice of ten waxed conventional apples two days back, really made me sick. I didn't peel them.

You say: "African mangoes are best eaten by Africans". Yeah, I agree. The next person though, who would love to eat those left over, that would be me! ;-)
You can have some of mine too, if you want? I have plenty, you see.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an international organisation who could take care for fruit-distribution on a GLOBAL scale. Meaning that those million of banana's that were dumped the other day (remembering one of Harleys posts a few weeks back), would be immediately send to the almost starving peoples in Haiti, China, or whatever other environmental disaster struck places...

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Permalink Reply by Fruitlicious on August 12, 2010 at 12:27am

I should add: thats why I think organic and fair trade go hand in hand...

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on August 12, 2010 at 3:30am

I do know for a fact that recycled paper is less expensive to produce but they charge more for it simply because they can. It's possible that could be the case with other things.

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Permalink Reply by Fruitlicious on August 12, 2010 at 4:45am

That's possible.

Recycling paper is less expensive you say.... Would that also be the case for 'organic' toiletpaper? It's obviously more costly than creating commerical toiletpaper which is nowadays also bleeched and has parfume on it, and a duo-color print motive with flowers or butterflies....

Now which one of those toiletpapers is actually keeping up appearances?

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on August 12, 2010 at 2:33pm

I don't know about toilet paper, but it seems like it would apply there too. That would be a good little investigative story for a magazine.

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Permalink Reply by David on August 12, 2010 at 2:12am

my take and experience is:
both organic and conventional have pesticides and fungicides and all of those chemicals
but organic has it in much smaller amounts than conventional, which is abundantly covered in pesticides
it's very hard, almost impossible to find 100% natural food, unless you live in an island alone with no trucks or factories
even Doug Graham in 801010 said all food carries toxins with it
so we just got to do our best
most foods you can eat conventional that have thick skins or outer coverings, but others like apples I wouldn't eat conventional

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Permalink Reply by Fruitlicious on August 12, 2010 at 4:17am

oops David, funny you say this, because of your comment I decided to actually check the sticker on the apple (i wrote down the url some time ago). Guess what, they are organic and they have a great concept behind them:
http://www.natureandmore.com/welcome

Now I'm thinking, was it an allergic respond, or a sugar rush or something? Never had it before, the apple in the pic on the website doesn't look waxed, but I actually thought mine were. mmm.
I might test them again next week... if I'm not checking in again I might have had a heartattack. :-)
Interesting what Doug Graham said... indeed we can't do more than our best.

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Permalink Reply by DURIANRIDER on August 12, 2010 at 12:45pm

Some times there is scammers in the organic scene but that is the case with all business. Just cos there is some bad apples in the box doesnt mean we should throw out the whole box..

Certified organics is the best bet and notice how fruit and veg are the safest foods cos they have no hidden ingredients like packaged foods..

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Permalink Reply by solarliving on August 12, 2010 at 5:11pm

This is sort of off topic, but if you are looking for a way to see if a food item is ok, you might try kinesiology (muscle testing.) I test myself for everything. I even ask my body if the fruit is ripe yet : )

The whole organic thing has really gotten out of hand here in California. I buy a lot of items from a local co-op and sometimes the organic stuff tastes chemical laden. Sucks when you spend extra money on fruit and it still tastes bad. At this point I am slowly acquiring fruit trees and look foward to harvesting my own fruit one day.