When my husband and I began eating organic produce and meats back in the early 1990’s, the word “organic” was almost a sacred word in the food industry. It represented whole foods with no additives or fillers. Organic meats typically came from small family farms where animals were treated in a fashion that allowed them to express the individuality of their species. Cows were on pasture and chickens ran free outdoors. Organic certification did not cost a fortune for a farm to obtain and was typically performed in accordance with California and/or Oregon state law which was much stricter than the costly USDA Organic certification of today.
No longer. Bit by bit, the organic label has eroded over the years into a term that is becoming increasingly irrelevant to those who seek truly unadulterated foods for their families. I try to stifle a laugh when people tell me that they are switching to organic foods to improve their health. Sorry to burst your bubble, but eating “organic” today does not mean much of anything. Organic milk, one of the biggest growth niches for the USDA Organic label, may come from cows not given antibiotics or steroids, but it is actually more highly processed than regular store milk (ultrapasteurized versus pasteurized) and the cows are probably just as confined as the cows producing standard store milk. Perhaps the “organically fed cows” are fed stale organic donuts from a nearby bread factory instead of a commercial grain mix. Not much of an improvement for the huge difference in price! Better to find a small local farm with milk from grassfed cows free on pasture. Grass is the appropriate staple food for cows .. not organic donuts!
Without a doubt, the definition of eating “organic” for most Americans is switching from highly processed foods at the supermarket to highly processed foods at the same store with the USDA Organic label. The fact that WalMart now sells organic foods clearly heralds the imminent death of the Organic label for folks like me. The USDA Organic certification has now become nothing more than yet another way to dupe customers into spending more money for something that has next to no additional value.
Interestingly, the small farms that are currently producing the REAL organic food usually don’t even bother to seek USDA Organic certification as it has become cost prohibitive in most cases. Consumers who want true organic food must now seek local farms, local food co-ops or buying clubs for their staples. Truly organic foods aren’t even available in stores in many cases. Clearly, the PURE FOOD movement, the movement beyond Organic, has begun in earnest.
I had a very enlightening conversation with one of my favorite people the other day, Chef Tony from Cafe Eden of Abby’s Health and Nutrition in Tampa, FL. Chef Tony is a REAL chef (are you listening Michael Voltaggio?). A REAL chef is someone who not only knows how to cook (and has the education to back it up), but also cooks to maximize nutrition and absorbability of nutrients. A REAL chef also knows that you NEVER FRY GNOCCHI IN CANOLA OIL (Food and Wine, April 2010). How could Michael Voltaggio actually have won Top Chef? What a farce. Chef Tony .. now, that is a REAL chef!
Anyway, Chef Tony was telling me that in the span of a single year, the USDA increased the number of allowable fillers and additives in USDA Organic foods from 8 to nearly 300!! The push for expansion of fillers and additives in USDA Organic food is coming from none other than Big Food. Big Food companies like Kraft, Cargill, Heinz, Kellogg and others are gobbling up small organic food companies by the dozens while at the same time, diluting the very meaning of the “organic” label itself. Check out the links to the 2 charts below to get some idea of how devastating this trend is to the Organic Foods industry.
Organic company acquisitions by Big Food in 2002
Organic company acquisitions by Big Food in 2009
Big Food clearly has its sights on dominating the Organic Food industry and if you want to stay healthy, you need to steer clear of foods that are produced by any of the companies on these charts if at all possible.
The PURE Food Standard is where REAL health and wellness lies. PURE foods are health giving and nutrient dense. Traditional Cultures consumed these foods as described by Dr. Weston A. Price in his landmark book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”. Further, PURE foods are prepared with traditional cooking methods to maximize nutrient density in a way that the human digestive tract can easily absorb. Don’t settle for anything less and don’t fall for the marketing hype behind the USDA Organic label. Your health depends on it.
Please comment with any personal stories you may have regarding the dilution of the organic label. Perhaps there was an organic brand that you used for years that has suddenly (and without warning) changed it’s ingredients for the worse (usually after being bought by a Big Food company). This happened to me with French Meadow’s “Summer Bread”. This bread used to be wonderful .. baked in a traditional sourdough manner. Now that French Meadow is owned by Cargill, gluten has been added to the ingredients list (adding gluten only benefits company profits. It makes the bread more dependable for holding together during shipping but MUCH LESS digestible for the consumer)! Make sure you check the labels of your favorite organic brands frequently as this is not an isolated case.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
What Can BE Done?
I feel like the more we ask the government to oversee “additives” and look to them to get major Food Chains (i.e. Mc Donalds) and labels to embrace organic and “free range” the worse and more backwards it gets. And yet I can’t say I don’t like what Chipotle is doing and other smaller chains in their attempt to be more environmentally and organically aware. Big scale change is good…unless it’s bad….
And what of these small family farms and restaurants who are getting shut down because their food has not been labels federally organic?
I live near Lancaster in PA, I am lucky and surrounded by local produce, dairy and meats. Not all people are so lucky.
What can be done?
WOW that acquisition chart…ugh…well I guess it makes me ALL the more excited to start making more and more of our own foods and growing our own foods. We've been buying Organic Valley milk since there just isn't any raw milk around here, but since their recent news about telling all their co-op farmers to cease selling raw milk I've been thinking we should just stop drinking their milk until we can find a source of real milk. I'll probably still get their butter and cheese for now though.
All the more reason to grow and raise our own food, which is my family's plan. Thanks for all your great info, Sarah!
I've taken to using the motto "if my great grandmother (who happened to grow up on a farm) wouldn't recognize it, it's not food". Grocery shopping takes time, something difficult with a baby in tow, but reading every label and trying to buy things that don't have labels has been helpful. The 2010 WAP Shopping Guide is helpful too. Finding local food buying clubs has been a real life saver. I found that taking one food group/item at a time makes the transition so much easier.
That is an excellent question .. I'm so glad you brought up this problem that many folks have finding decent quality unpasteurized milk for their families. Please go to the website http://www.realmilk.com You can mail order raw milk frozen .. it can legally cross state lines if it is frozen. You might want to ask around and see if anyone you know has a cow where you can get raw milk from a friend or a friend of a friend. If despite all your best efforts, you are unable to locate a quality source of unpasteurized milk, then buy low temp pasteurized, grassfed, nonhomogenized milk such as what is available from Natural by Nature (ask your healthfood store to stock it if they don't already). Good luck!
What are those of us to do that can't buy organic milk because it is illegal in our state to sell raw milk and driving to another state is not an option?
Don't let the hostile takeover of the organic label by Big Food discourage you, Meagan. Just arm yourself with the knowledge you need to find the healthiest foods for your family. I would highly recommend the 2010 Shopping Guide put out by the Weston Price Foundation (westonaprice.org) It only costs $1 plus shipping and this purse sized pamphlet will help you navigate around the store like a pro. Yes, organic produce is still better than conventional with one exception. If you have the opportunity to buy locally produced, conventional produce, this would be preferable to organic produce shipped across the continent or hemisphere. It is infinitely more nutritious to eat a freshly picked cucumber from your neighbor's conventional garden than to eat an organic cucumber shipped from Chile.
This is really discouraging to me because it makes shopping all the more confusing. To what lengths do we have to go to find the right wholesome, nutritious foods to feed our families? I know you have a lot of it figured out, but for a newbie like myself it is simply overwhelming at times, so I'm not always sure if I see an organic option if it's really even worth the money to pay extra for it. I've actually been waiting for this moment when I find out buying organic in many cases is really no better than buying conventional.
However, for produce, isn't organic still considered better in most cases?