Which organic brands really believe in organic--and which are working behind the scenes to betray natural health consumers? . . .
Many natural and organic brands are actually owned by huge conglomerates that don't support sustainable, organic, non-GMO, non-toxic agriculture.
In fact, their product labels are often designed to mislead consumers just so they can grab a share of the lucrative health-conscious consumer market.
Even worse, many of the conglomerate companies that produce so-called natural foods--and even some labeled ``organic''--are allied with the biotech industry fighting by any means to defeat ``Label GMO,'' a.k.a. Prop 37, the California Right to Know 2012 Ballot Initiative.
Why are they doing such a thing?
Because they sell more food that has GMO ingredients than organic food, and don't want consumers to have a choice about the GMO.
They especially don't want consumers to know what is actually in their so-called ``natural'' products. . . .
- - Specific (and startling) details in the full article at link above. -
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
Excitotoxins; MSG; Aspartame; & "Natural" Flavors -
Posted by poppy (Member # 5355) on :
Sure is hard to grocery shop these days. Have to take a list with you of what is safe to buy.
Corporations are not people. And they are not honest.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I think that's why my friend's husband said "organic" was a farce. He has seen it happen.
He's a retired truck farmer.
Posted by soccermama (Member # 35101) on :
My husband and I know some farmers who grow organic corn. He told my husband that it is so hard to grow organic corn because the seed is blown on their property.
What happened to just growing and making the food the old fashioned way?
Posted by poppy (Member # 5355) on :
With corn, it is more a problem with pollen, which can blow quite a distance.
Posted by just don (Member # 1129) on :
I could tell you stories about organic till the cows come home.
Dont waste your money.
You ever notice that EVERY recall that made people sick on food last few years,,,has been organic produce/veggies?? Ever wonder why?
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
Same reason I don't buy lite, low cal, no sugar added, no fat, etc etc. When they alter food and need to make it edible.....they will use whatever they have to for sales.
I prefer to stick to the old fashion way also.
Pam
Posted by Dogsandcats (Member # 28544) on :
My hubby's mother ate only farm fresh eggs, butter, buttermilk, etc and lived very healthy until she died at 90+. She also ate small meals throughout the day.
Something to be said about the way we used to eat.....all things in moderation.
Now if I could just do the moderation part....
Posted by YinYang (Member # 36358) on :
Aaaaaaahhhhhh! At the risk of sounding like my grandma...the world is going to he@% in a hand basket.
Oh how I wish corporations had morals like people. Wait, don't people own and run corporations?
Posted by Libra72 (Member # 38453) on :
Yinyang- I agree on both statements
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
just don, can you please elaborate? I try to buy organic as much as possible so I would appreciate your input.
Map I don't believe in buying "lite" "low cal" "no sugar added" "no fat" either. It just isn't logical or good IMO. Sometimes the old way is the best way.
Dogsandcats I think we could all use a lesson or two in how our parents/grandparents ate. My grandparents and great-grandparents were raised on farms. They mostly lived to a ripe old age.
Their diets consisted of eggs, butter, milk, meat. Low or no fat diets weren't heard of back in the day--likely for good reason as these types of diets just do not make sense.
Posted by just don (Member # 1129) on :
beaches,
lots of stories to tell. Lived next to a neighbors farm for 50 years. Farmed conventional all of those.
Son tore out pasture fences and put a pivot on it and rented it to an 'organic' farmer. was 50% grass 50% crop ground.
Organic farmer says since I am 'certified' organic it all is. IF you want to convert conv. to organic takes five years. Zero years if certified organic guy does.
Its all in the 'label' they hang on it.
Next point organic veggies are fertilized with natural fertilizer. Yes, wastewater poo which contains fecal material.
IF it is kept off the leaves like cabbage, lettuce, etc. it is great stuff,,,
on my food I eat not so much,,,and that is exactly what all the 'organic' sickness and recalls are about.
If you want to do some more research go to Sams club etc on Farmers market day. Pickups being loaded out the back door of 'regular' produce.
Same produce, same pickup parked at farmers market soon there after......"Joe;s organic Produce" here come and buy them.
I guess riding in the back of the truck around the block a couple times changes the status.
Just a few examples of the crooked organic side of food production. Its sold on the perception of the buyer, not on true quality.
Now with that saidI prefer knowing source of food too. You have to establish a relationsship with provider to "know" source of food, veggies and meat etc. And there practices how its grown.
You CAN find good growers of produce that actually are more organic than the store bought labeled organic,,,or just as good.
I will mention in passing,,,gmo does NOT earn the bad rap it gets,,,long strides have been made in last few years. The 'half-life' of chems is really short.
AND some chems are worse than others. For instance insecticides are worse than herbicides. And 'Pursuit' and 2-4-D are far worse and sickening than roundup any day.
Did you know that when roundup comes in contact with dust or dirt it becomes "inert".
I doubt ANY roundup could be found on surface of gmo produce,,because it lives in its own little house(pod, shuck).
There is so much misinformation out there, yesterday at lunch I heard two people talking,,,yikes the misinformed abound.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Not all who sell organic are cheats and crooks.
Most are very reputable and very diligent, adhering to strict standards. It's all about the source and their honesty. find the real deal, not the crooks.
Know how and WHERE your food is grown. If you eat eggs, find out how the hens live, and what they eat, etc. We have to do our homework because of the crooks who want to fool us.
Get to know the organic farmers around you, not organics in big box or warehouse stores (there is often much we don't know about their sources). -
[ 08-24-2012, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Living on/around farms and in the woods/mountains and watching and studying what is happening in the scientific and retail markets, I have to agree with Just Don.
And with dawgs&kittycats - everything in moderation.
Now where's the ice cream?
Posted by poppy (Member # 5355) on :
Can't agree that GMOs are harmless. Read the books "Seeds of Deception" and "Genetic Roulette." When you see that the process of inserting the new genes disrupts a lot of the surrounding genes, that no real research has been done on the consequences to people and animals who eat this stuff, well it is frightening.
A few researchers who did try to look into this subject were fired or silenced.
We have a plague of new illnesses in our population that were never there before (autism, ADHD) or in much smaller numbers (obesity, allergies). And in every case, instead of looking for the real cause, they either fob us off by blaming the patients in one way or another. If they can't even tell the truth about the possible involvement of vaccines in autism, how likely it is that we will be told the truth about GMOs? Sure hope California proposition to label this stuff is successful. If it is good for us, why are these big corporations pouring money into defeating a simple thing like telling what is in the food we eat?
[ 08-26-2012, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: poppy ]
Posted by poppy (Member # 5355) on :
And Roundup is not as harmless as Don is hoping. Look at the interview about it on Dr. Mercola.
My personal experience with using Roundup to kill off most of my lawn, replacing it with mulch, in a deviation from a lifetime of avoiding such chemicals....was a disaster. Not only did it not dissapate, it killed off a big rose bush that was not sprayed, and did nothing good to some ornamental trees.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- The thing is that, within the posted link above, we can help to change things.
It's not just to say this happens but to show what each of us can do about it (to some degree at least) by either avoiding or enjoying certain brands. -
Posted by emla999/Lyme (Member # 12606) on :
I have been involved with both organic and conventional farming on a fairly large scale. And based upon my experience I would agree with some of what Don has said.
I know people that go buy conventionally grown cull grade fruits from farmers at wholesale very cheap and then turn right around and go sale those fruits as organically or "biologically" grown fruit for premium prices at farmers markets.
And personally, I believe that the virtues of organic agriculture are sometimes over hyped by some people. And I also believe that the negatives that are associated with conventional agriculture are over hyped sometimes by some people.
And in my opinion, working for manufacturers of organically approved crop protectants/pesticides may not always be good for your health.
For example, working at Aqraquest, a large manufacture of organically approved pesticides/plant protectors has been linked to health problems.
And some organically approved pesticides/fertilizers such as Surround and Azomite contain heavy metals such as aluminum. Though, the manufactures claim that the toxic heavy metals found in teir products is not harmful. Maybe it isn't toxic. But then again maybe it is toxic.
And on the flip side..... some people claim to be ingesting a synthetic crop fungicide called Azoxystrobin as a treatment for candida and cancer!! Go figure.
With all that being said, I still want to eat food that is raised in a way that is the least toxic/harmful to me and to environment. So, I generally try to eat foods that are minimally sprayed and as fresh as possible.
And for what it's worth, I have come to realize that for some people, it doesn't matter what the facts are, It only matters what they believe the facts are.
.
Posted by tickle (Member # 36441) on :
Don't throw your hands in the air yet. If you don't like contaminated "organic" food (food that isn't really organic but masquerading as such for higher prices), then work for better regulation of organic foods.
Ask your grocery store manager where the food comes from, how they verify that it is organic. Follow the trail up the supply chain if you don't get answers that satisfy you.
If you discover a brand using misleading labels, etc., share the info online! Write an email to the company, let them know you aren't buying it and you are sharing the info with friends online, on facebook or other effective social sharing sites.
Last thing we need is to inspire indifference about the food we eat, as in "i can't be sure it's really organic', or "GMO isn't bad for you...".
Organic is better for the environment. It's better for us, and it's natural foods that we have evolved to eat!
GMO is bad for the environment and for farmers. From what I've read - and I have read a lot - GMO is bad for our health, too. Monsanto is monopolizing the food industry with it's patented GMO crops and they are everywhere.
There's no reason not to buy organic, and every reason to push for honest, organic foods. For our health and for the earth.
NOTHING happens without effort. We need to turn the direction our food supplies are heading AROUND, and it won't happen on it's own.
We vote with our dollars, we have so many ways to affect attitudes - online, letters, phone calls - so don't let the deceivers win!
Ok, rant over.
Posted by AuntyLynn (Member # 35938) on :
Just Don -
Obviously the guy who rented the land next to yours and called everything he grew on it "organic" is a phoney and a cheat!
FARMERS are not "certified organic" their FIELDS and CROPS are! You are 100% correct in observing that it usually takes 5 years for a field to go from "transitional" to "organic."
That having been said, ONLY farms that have been inspected, and have submitted VERIFIABLE RECORDS to the USDA as to how their fields have been fertilized and otherwise enriched, can hope to gain the GREEN CIRCLE "CERTIFIED USDA ORGANIC" SEAL.
Yes, I will grant you that if a farmer is using uncomposted manure "tea" and spraying it on leafy vegetables, he is a fool to risk the liability he is "asking for" and his buyers would be fools to not wash it first! That having been said, the first "spinach scare" that made so many people ill, was found to have been spawned by a commercial farm that did NOT provide adequate Port-O-Potties for its migrant workers! Ewwww!
Moreover, SEWAGE SLUDGE was something that AGRIBIZ tried desparately to get approved as "organic fertilizer" - but a large ARMY of consumers and honest competitors raised SUCH A STINK with tens of thousands of petition signatures that the gov't was FORCED to agree with us! If you use this waste in your fields, you will not ever be "certified." Heavy metals, PCBs, pharmaceutical waste and G*D KNOWS what else is in this sludge! BTW the sludge is sold as a DRY product, so it is highly UNlikely to have been implicated in any e-coli contamination.
Unfortunately, unless you KNOW your organic farmer and his reputation, or can see the USDA seal on the produce boxes, you have no guarantees. There is exactly ONE farmer, in all the markets that I frequent, that earns the USDA Certified Organic LOGO for some of his crops, which he displays on his website! He also quite HONESTLY displays the fact that a good portion of his crop is "transitional" while indicating which crops ARE Certified Organic. I trust him. He not only displays the logo, but the actual Gov't Certification Certificate on his website. I know he could not advertise with that for long, if he had not actually earned it!
Another farmer comes to market with reliably scarred and undernourished items, claiming that they are organic, and charges sky-high prices - for stuff that looks like it's ready for the compost bin. I steer far clear of this guy!
Moreover, my organic farmer's corn is obviously NOT "super sweet" (YUCH~!), is reliably "picked daily" (as good sweet corn SHOULD be)... and I highly DOUBT that he would ever grow GMO "BT" Corn, since he is doing his best to transition his farm.
IMHO, the proof is in the product! And I would far rather see a corn borer every few ears, than eat kernals that are crispy/tough - which can indicate the "high lignan" content of GMO plants.
Last week this honest farmer offered Organic Swiss Chard, @ $3.00 for a very generous bunch. I took some home but did not cook it for nearly a week. To our AMAZEMENT it was the MOST DELICIOUS Chard we had EVER Tasted!! With a really delicate flavor, and broad and tender stalks. Believe me, my family and I have grown lots of Chard over the years, but this was better than anything from OUR gardens!
The Money that is pouring in to vanquish the Prop. 37 ballot in California is appalling! Corps. like Pepsico (Odwalla juices), General Mills, and another that makes "Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade" (which I love)... have donated several Hundred MILLION dollars into DEFEATING this referendum! These companies are showing their "true colors" - and make me suspect they have a LOT to hide!
BTW, "Bear Naked" Granola was recently "outed" for making cereals with full fledged GMO Soy! An independent lab tested it for the possibility that a small percentage had likely been "cross pollinated" (as their publicity dept. asserted) - but the evidence against that possibility was far too compelling, that it was not!
I am now boycotting products that I know are made by any Agribiz corp. that sells "organic brands" under a benign (and deliberately deceptive brand name), while they are coincidentally bankrolling the DEFEAT of Prop. 37! (Search: organic consumers association for a list of these potential criminals!)
And I don't give a happy HOOT if it's "Round Up Ready" or "BT" - neither of these technologies were ever used as food for thousands of generations of homo sapiens before! We have not evolved to eat this twisted chemistry!
I will not knowingly eat BT corn. I will not knowingly eat GMO BEET Sugar. I will continue to pass up all soy products that are not specifically guaranteed to be USDA Organic. I will not ever knowingly buy the new "salmon" Frankenfish, eat potato chips cooked in Canola, nor drink RbGH Milk!
Our bodies, our soil, and our bees deserve MUCH BETTER!
THANKS to those who try their best to support "clean food!" And thanks to Jeffrey Smith, and to the Organic Consumers Association, for pointing out the dangers, and the deceivers!
Live long and prosper!
[ 09-05-2012, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: AuntyLynn ]
Posted by AuntyLynn (Member # 35938) on :
Thanks especially to Poppy and Tickle for adding their own insights on this issue.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by YinYang: ...the world is going to he@% in a hand basket.
- I just said this to my husband 5 min ago! (watching the news)
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by beaches:
Dogsandcats I think we could all use a lesson or two in how our parents/grandparents ate. My grandparents and great-grandparents were raised on farms. They mostly lived to a ripe old age.
Their diets consisted of eggs, butter, milk, meat. Low or no fat diets weren't heard of back in the day--likely for good reason as these types of diets just do not make sense.
-
All HOMEGROWN .. no additives, antibiotics and &^%$!!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)