« Eat pomegranates to age better! | Main | Easy ways of including pomegranates to your diet! » 
Do you think that organic foods are safer for your health?
With the outbreak of salmonella, a lot of people are being more and more cautious about the foods they buy.
For a number of years now, we’ve been hearing about food scares that have had some deadly consequences for a number of young and elderly people.
I think a lot of shoppers who exclusively buy organic foods might have found themselves protected against all these food-horror-shows, but it seems that the last outbreak of salmonella proves that NO ONE is safe anymore.
The latest case of salmonella outbreak was linked to peanuts from plants in Texas (in Texas, Peanut Corporation of America is at the heart of the controversy) and Georgia that were sending out contaminated peanut butter and ground peanut products that contained (you won’t believe this) rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, those same plants had received a U.S. federal organic certification!!!
So what does this mean for us consumers when it comes to buying organic foods?
If you see the “certified organic” label should you continue to trust it or is this another clever marketing ploy to charge more for low quality foods?
I mean really, why buy organic peanut butter at $4 for a very small jar when you can buy a huge jar of Kraft, Skippy, Peter Pan or Jif peanut butter for a fraction of that price if you are going to end up with an organic product that has been produced in a filthy manufacturing plant?
I personally was shocked to learn that just because a food is organic doesn’t mean that it’s safer, therefore the 50% increase in the price of organic foods is no guarantee of its quality.
The recent salmonella outbreak has caused a whopping 3,000 products to be recalled including items from companies like Clif Bar and Cascadian Farm.
This crisis has affected organic brands and their reputation and as a result the Organic Trade Association (which represents 1,700 organic companies), is trying to bring back some lustre to organic food’s image and has launched a massive $500,000 Web-based campaign on the benefits of organic food with the slogan: “Organic. It’s worth it”. Many consumers who have been organic food buyers in the past have been choosing non-organic brands as a result of this latest food scare … especially when it comes to buying peanut butter.
I think that the Organic Trade Associate and the USDA Organic certification system will have to do more than spend a half-a-million dollar on a web campaign to lure consumers back because for many who had been paying the higher prices of organic foods, it will take a lot to convince them to come back.
The cost of not caring:
Can you believe that nine people have died and almost 700 have become ill as a result of consuming infected peanut-base products? I’d say that these people really died as a cause of negligence, sloppiness, mediocrity and may I say greed? Yes, I do say greed because organic products cost far more than conventional products in an industry that now generates over $20 billion dollars in sales each year in the U.S. … those numbers don’t consider sales in Canada or any European country.
It’s clear that inspectors making the rounds to ascertain companies with the USDA Organic certification stamps are not health and hygiene inspectors or experts. That said, they have eyes and if you walk into a plant and see disgusting things like: bird, rodent and other animal feces or other pest infestations, you should scream bloody murder and contact the body that can come in and demand the plant clean up their act or SHUT THEM DOWN!
These nine people who died in vain and those 700 people who agonized for hours in pain would have appreciated the gesture!
Photo by EuroMagic
Deli.cious
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Digg This
April 7th, 2009 at 8:52
Food safety has been and continues to be a top priority in the organic industry, as evidenced by the tough stance that the National Organic Program (NOP) has taken in response to recent concerns about the organic certification of certain production facilities. Barbara Robinson, Deputy Administrator of NOP, stated “Organic certification shall not be granted or continued when current health or safety inspections have not been granted or renewed for the facility.” Robinson also made clear that accredited certifying agents must report violations of health or safety to the appropriate governmental level.
In thinking about organic and food safety, it is important to recognize that PCA’s plant violations of FDA’s food safety standards are grounds for non-compliance with the organic standards under sections governing organic handling requirements in the National Organic Program (NOP) regulation. The organic industry supports the swift and decisive moves by state and federal regulators and certifying agencies to enforce that the U.S. organic processing system is incompatible with the operational negligence revealed through the investigation of contaminated peanut products originating at PCA.
It is also important to note that food safety is not an issue specific to organic, but rather one that is food industry-wide. Moreover, it is important to be aware that he way organic foods are grown and processed is among the most closely monitored food system in the world. Organic foods must meet or exceed all federal organic regulations as well as all applicable food safety regulations. The organic system includes certification by U.S.D.A. accredited agents, annual onsite audits of farms and processing facilities by independent inspectors, and transparent paper trail for the chain of custody.
U.S. regulations require that organic food and beverage products be grown according to strict standards that prohibit the use of genetically engineered seeds and growth hormones, sewage sludge, and irradiation, and processed in accordance with handling requirements that set practice standards for the prevention of contact with prohibited substances and commingling with nonorganic products. No matter where they were grown, all organic food and beverage products sold in the United States must meet U.S. national organic standards as well as all U.S. food safety regulations.