I must admit, I was kind of stunned watching this video, and this will change the way I shop and how much I am reading fine print even more than I was doing before.
This is crazy and is a must read!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y&feature=player_embedded
Comments
I always check labels
I always check labels regarding organic... A lot of stuff from Trader Joes that says it is organic comes from Mexico... Now I have nothing to back this up, but if you have ever been to Mexico, you will see right away, they play fast and loose with the truth and safety a lot of the times... Also, if you notice, that WF video, all the organic produce was frozen... We should strive not to eat frozen stuff anyhow... This will hopefully help minimize organic imposters... If you have a organic co-op in your area, you should check it out. I will post a link to mine... I have never done it, but thinking about it... I was going to share with a friend: http://www.bewiseranch.com/
You get what is in season, which is probably better for you to eat, just from an evolutionary standpoint... When we were cavemen, we didn't have strawberries in December... Have you ever tasted one? Totally devoid of nutrients! But you get a strawberry in April! Bursting with flavor. We should always be looking for the healthiest alternative and the bottom line with this video... we are always responsible for our own health!!!! We cannot rely on agencies, government, etc to do this for us!
Organics
In the article I posted about the bacteria in packaged salads, even the Earthbound Farms brand got the same bad report. Also, how do we know where the "fresh" organic produce comes from and how it is handled? Frozen is probably okay if it is frozen right after it is harvested as the nutrients are less likely to be lost. We don't have a Whole Foods store in our area, but our Giant supermarket carries a lot of organic products, both fresh and frozen. I will certainly be checking their packages more closely from now on.
FYI
FYI -- After a friend sent this video to me a while ago, I was concerned so I wrote Whole Foods directly to inquire about these practices. I still don't know how I feel about trusting anything from China but here was the response from their Global Headquarters:
Yes, this is an old (over a year and a half) investigative report which is ‘inaccurate’, to put it nicely.
Organic from China is totally possible and the certification process is as strong there as it is in any other country, because the certifying agencies are approved and held accountable by the USDA. Additionally we work closely with our vendor partners there to ensure quality products. With that said, we only have 15-20 items out of our over 2000 private label products that come from there and they are predominately in the frozen vegetable category. For those customers that do not want these products, we offer a Whole Foods Market exclusive brand under the label Columbia River Organics, all American grown frozen vegetables and fruits. There is some great info about this subject on our website if you are interested.
Lisa
That is interesting. I checked at our Giant supermarket yesterday, and some of their Nature's Promise frozen vegetables were from China, Mexico, and Guatemala. Then I check the Cascadian Farms brand, and that was also true of some of their frozen vegetables. I suppose maybe these stores are getting the vegetables from the same sources. Does that mean they are not safe to eat? I have read that countries like Mexico do not have the same controls as we do here in the states. Also, anything that has come from China lately seems to be tainted. It is hard to know what to trust. If we ate only fresh organic vegetables, we would only be eating veggies June through Sept. here in the northeast.
Whole Foods' response to youtube video
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/
This is a link that gets you to a response made by Whole Foods on the Youtube video above. Just incase you want to believe their side of the story.