Posts Tagged ‘organic’

“Organic” label is in trouble, and what you can do

Thursday, April 12th, 2018

By Catherine Haug, April 12, 2018 (image, right, from organic (dot) org (3))

I got the following text in an email today from NEXT7.org. I find it very disturbing and hope you do too.  The USDA “Organic” label is in trouble as BIG AG has gotten more than their foot in the door to use that label to their benefit. To quote NEXT7, “Recent decisions by the National Organic Program (NOP) … mean what is being sold under the USDA Organic label is not something anyone would recognize as truly organic.”

Here in the Flathead, we do have access to local, truly organically-grown fruits and vegetables because our local farmers choose to raise their foods that way, and we can visit their farms to verify their methods for ourselves. But people who live in large urban areas may not have that option, and so depend on the honesty of labels when selecting their foods.

Read on for more, and for a link to a very short survey (1 question) about this issue.

If you want to know more about NEXT7, visit their “about”website (2). (more…)

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2017: Clean vs Dirty Dozen Food (whether to buy Organic)

Monday, March 13th, 2017

Free-range chicken farm

By Catherine Haug, March 13, 2017 (Photo, right, from Cornucopia (5)

Cat’s food-shopping tips:

  • Produce: If you can afford Organic, it is highly recommended you choose Certified Organic or Organically-grown. If your budget is limited, see the Clean Dozen and Dirty Dozen food lists, below.
  • Red meats: Pasture/grass raised and finished, locally-raised livestock provide the most healthful meats; see also my posting Why ‘Pasture-Raised’ trumps ‘Organic’.
  • Poultry meats: Your best choice locally raised poultry, provided they have access to the outdoors; and not just a small door to the outdoors, but a door you can use, too. Chickens eat not only seeds but also insects, grubs and worms, and they need the sun for the sunshine vitamin, just like we do.
  • Eggs: Your best choice is eggs from poultry raised in similar way as for ‘poultry meats’ above.
  • Dairy: Buying from a local farmer (who keeps his/her dairy livestock in pasture) is highly recommended. Organic commercial milk is ultra-pasteurized and, in my opinion, ultra-damaged. See my article on Cat’s Kitchen: Raw Milk: A Real, Natural & Perfect Food, which has a discussion about the problems with ultra-pasteurized milk. If drinking raw milk is not for you, choose simply ‘pasteurized’ milk (HTST) from a local dairy, such as Kalispell Kreamery here in the Flathead Valley. See Food Safety & Pasteurization on The EssentiaList for a description of the various pasteurization types.
  • Cheese: This is a dairy food but I give it its own bullet because we have a great source of raw-milk cheeses in Montana: Lifeline brand, from Victor MT. There are also local brands that use simply-pasteurized milk to make their cheeses, such as Flathead Lake Cheese (2) in Polson, and Amaltheia Dairy (3) in Belgrade.
  • Avoid processed foods, even if they say ‘organic’ on the label, because unless they are Certified Organic, they will contain up to 15% non-organic ingredients most of which are GMO. See my posting: Natural vs Organic Labeling for more.

Buying Organic can be expensive, so if your food budget is limited, read on. (more…)

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