Certified Organic Does Matter

Okay, this is not about the web, not about media, and not about technology. But it is about community–yours, mine, and all of ours; and about health and sustainability.

I wrote a letter to Michael Pollan today. I want to share it with you all, because the food movement is so important, and because, as usual, agribusiness would like to redefine it. But we can’t let them. So it’s up to all of us–not just Michael Pollan–to retain the values of health, sustainability, and kindness to all species. Let us all be conscious eaters and conscious buyers.

Here’s the letter:

Hello, Michael:

I know you are very busy, but I’m writing to you because I feel you are at the nexus of the extremely important food movement that’s taking place, and I’m concerned about a trend I’ve seen recently that the food movement might inadvertently be contributing to (or at least that its leaders, such as you, might be able to help prevent the expansion of).

Here is the issue: Certified organic foods are becoming less important to people than hollow promises, and large buyers (like Whole Foods) are capable of squashing certified organic producers by buying “GMO and antibiotic free” (also known as “Natural”), but uncertified products exclusively. Granted, there is a plus side to allowing some flexibility for growers and ranchers who can’t afford to make the transition to certified, but there is a potential for certified organic to become *completely* impossible to maintain if no one is demanding it anymore, and the net result for the end buyer is that our ability to buy truly antibiotic and GMO free foods goes from small to non-existent, while the retailers, processors, etc. ream us for close-to-organic prices on non-organic foods.

I’ve read Omnivore’s Dilemma, and I agree with you that certified organic is far from perfect, but I also know that you agree with me that it’s still worthwhile; and it would be a terrible state of affairs if the large corporations that co-opted organic in the first round were now able to eliminate it by manipulation of the tenets of the current food movement, claiming that “natural” is more important than organic, doing away with the “local” part of the argument, and pulling the rug out from under organic producers.

This is not a paranoid scenario: Whole Foods (at least the one in my neighborhood, and I’m guessing they are all marching to the same drum) has eliminated organic meats (pork, lamb, beef) in favor of the claim that ALL of their meats are antibiotic and GMO free. Well, it’s not true. I have an extreme hypersensitivity to macrolides (of which Tylosin is a member), and got a major reaction after eating some Whole Foods “antibiotic-free” pork. Since I had otherwise eaten nothing that wasn’t either from my own garden, from a known-good local farmer, or certified, the pork was definitely the source of the antibiotic. While I realize the hypersensitivity is my own personal cross to bear, it does make me a sort of walking litmus test for truth in advertising when it comes to antibiotics. And the larger issue is what could happen to the very important organic certification and the producers who go to the trouble and expense of getting it.

Whole Foods did not lower their prices, either, so this is a racket. They can now charge organic prices for business-as-usual, polluted foods, grown by the same unsustainable, unhealthy, and cruel means that they have been for decades, because public perception–even among the members of the food movement itself, is that maybe organic isn’t so important, and the complexities of that statement are lost on most people.

I’m not sure what should be done about it, but I wanted to alert you, because I think this is a serious issue, not just for me personally, but for everyone. Our food should not be “antibiotic free” in the same way that a Rosie or Rocky chicken is “free range.” (I obviously won’t be buying from Whole Foods again at all, but so many people do–and again, the organic producers could be crushed out of business by this trend.)

Thank you so much for any time and consideration you can give to this issue, and that you have given to the letter at all! I honestly think you are at the center of the most important movement of our time–not just for humankind, but for all the earth. If people can follow the logic of the food movement, they will be forced to realize how intricately all on Earth are connected, and that would be a very good thing indeed.

Thanks again, and with the kindest regards,

Leha Carpenter