Organic Certified, Misleading labelling.

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By, Uwe Paschen.

Many of us do buy Organic Food, and many more Would like to, yet can not afford it. Sadly most of us do not actually know what Organic food is nor how it is regulated or where it does all come from and why should we have to either, should we not be able to trust the label? Sadly no. Now even though I support Organic Farming and practice it my self on our Farm, the reality of it all looks rather bad, since most off it is not much different then other foods that are not Organic certified. Why? Well, Organic Food products come from all over the Globe and are being shipped by Plane, Ship, Truck and Vans around the world. Yet we know little more about the Foods Origin and production, packaging and sale methods other then the fact it is labelled Organic-Certified.

For some reason consumers through out the World and especially the Industrialized World still trust the Organic Label with out ever questioning it nor even asking the obvious questions, such Who does actually control all this and what are the regulation...? Should we not be able to trust those labels? Unfortunately no.

For one, a big surprise it may be for some readers and consumers the fact that Organic does not mean, Pesticide Free, nor does it mean Herbicide Free or GMO free, or being used... Surprised? Organic certification of any product varies greatly not only from Country to Country, but also from one Province, State, Department or Prefecture to another one. To the point that what is permitted in Texas US, may be outlawed in California US and what may be Okay in Ontario is not so in Quebec, same for what is allowed in the US over all may be out lawed in China and so forth.

For instance some States and Provinces allow the use of up to 15% GMO products in any Organic cereal or other food and still be certified Organic and sold as such to the consumer. Some areas ask Farmers for buffer zones for Organically grown crops so they may not get contaminated by pesticides or GMO's, however other Areas do not care about that and do even allow Farmers to do both, GMO and Organic Beans side by side on the same farm and sale the lot as Organic.

It does get more interesting though, In Japan for instance, In the prefecture of Nagano Kent, farmers are allowed to use Herbicides yet not Pesticides on their organic Crops, where as in Chiba Prefecture Farmers are not allowed to use either for their Organic Crops. Not a Japanese problem alone, it is world wide, Quebec demands Buffer Zones and zero GMO cross contamination, where as Ontario allows GMO cross contamination for up to 15% and no buffer zones are needed. 

What does this mean? Well your Organic cereal is most likely no different or only little to none compared to the other none organic cereal, other then the price tag of course. If you add to this, transportation cost and pollution caused by the transportation then the Organic Rice or cereal you just both is actually in some cases worth then the generic or brand name product. This being said buying big brand food is usually the worth product. 

However the best way to go seems to be local food. It seems that buying locally does not  only make sense from and energy consumption point of view but it does seem to make Farmers and processors more responsible as well, since now their product is no longer shipped around the Globe to some stranger but rather to the next door nabber and who does want to harm or upset once nabber?

Some have been advocating this philosophy for some time now, such as Canada's David Suzuky, a well known environmentalist and Organic supporter, is now advocating to buy local rather then Organic for two main reasons as said earlier, one the productions certification is highly questionable and varies greatly from one place to another, even with in one Country and Two, buying Organic Potatoes from France in the USA or Organic Oranges from the USA in France does not make any sense at all and is environmentally counter productive for it causes great pollution to ship all this back and forth.

There for to buy Locally and better yet, skipping the middle man when ever you can and going directly to the Farmer seems to be the best and most responsible way to shop. At least then you know where your food really comes from and how it is produced.