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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 21:15:22 |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a proposal to allow 38 nonorganic ingredients to be used in foods that are certified "USDA Organic" even though they have received more than 1,000 complaints about this. The USDA is allowing this to happen because some manufacturers claim that the 38 items are minor ingredients that cannot be easily located in organic form.
These companies also argue that allowing these ingredients to be used will allow for more products to be created. However, since organic sales have more than doubled in the last 5 years, it is surprising that the USDA is listening to their pocketbooks, not the public.
Items on the list that are being debated include 19 food colorings, 2 starches, hops, sausage casings, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, gelatin, celery powder, dill weed oil, frozen lemon grass, Wakame seaweed, Turkish bay leaves and whey protein concentrate. As such a lot of foods, such as cereal, sausage, bread, beer, pasta, candy and soup mixes will be affected.
It is quite clear though that big, profit-driven companies have more sway over the USDA than family farmers, independent organic producers and consumers combined. The one good thing herein is that those foods that are labeled “100% organic” will still be required to be 100% organic.
So, this ruling will only apply to products that are 95% organic or less. Of course, this means that you will have to take the time to carefully read the ingredient labels and look for the label to say “100% organic” if you still want to eat only those foods that are truly organic.
Some of the products that have been affected by this ruling include Anheuser Busch's "Organic Wild Hops Beer," which does not include any organic hops at all; sausages, brats, and breakfast links labeled as "USDA Organic" can now contain intestines from farm animals that have raised on chemically grown feed, synthetic hormones and antibiotics; and those products that contain fish oil may have PCBs and mercury in them.
Since this is only a 60 day “trial run” by the USDA, you still have some time to email your state's government officials and have them put pressure on the USDA.
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