The EU Steps Up It’s Organic Program With The Euro-Leaf And New Regulations For Organic Aquaculture.
Jul 042010
A look inside an organic coffee roasting business from a flavor, process and social responsibility perspective as well as my non-organic father’s take on the whole thing.
Finally the USDA has put some specifics around what it actually means for milk and meat to be organic. .. Here’s the old rule “the animals must have access to pasture”. Which can mean anything from farmer John letting them graze and be in the fresh air and sunshine for a good part of the day to the company who just rushes them out and back in in order to sell at the higher prices of the organic marketplace. So here’s the deal. The new rule which takes effect June 2010 is that “30 percent [...click to contimue reading...]
Dec 162009
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has a program where they actively assist farmers to transition to organic production. This includes grants plus expertise from financial and organic farming experts. Just imagine you’re a conventional farmer, kind of scary to go organic and literally risk the farm by venturing into the unknown. This program shows them the way and helps minimize costly errors. More about this is linked here.
Target stores were busted for advertising Silk Soymilk as Organic even through Dean Foods which makes the stuff switched from Organic to Non-Organic Soybeans in 2009. Now a lot of consumers who want to go chemical free just kept purchasing their Silk without knowing what they were doing because they simply don’t check the labels every time (and nowadays you have to check them every time). And apparently Target has the same problem. They were advertising this Silk stuff as organic because they used an old photo in their ads. Sheesh! The complete AP Story is linked [...click to contimue reading...]
Times are tough throughout the world and people are taking a serious reassessment as to what they are spending their money on. But this often means being smarter and buying the best value and not necessarily the least expensive products and so it is for the organic food market worldwide.
As most of you know the word “Natural” on a product does NOT mean it’s organic. To check if something is organic look for the organic certification that will be printed on the container. And sometimes our friendly food processors will try the old switcharoo. Dean’s foods which produces the Silk Brand of Soy Milk
The Telegraph from the UK did a nice piece on Alice Waters of California who was one of the early pioneers in the organic food revolution that we all benefit from today. And at 65 she looks healthy and generally awesome. … She has a list of accomplishments from founding the Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley (recognized as one of the best in the world) to rumors that she was the one who put a bug in Michelle Obama’s ear to grow organic veggies at the White House. Anyway, a terrific lady and human being. The [...click to contimue reading...]
A UK study found that there was a wide gap between consumer expectations and what they actually got when buying organic food. Some of the most notable was that they expected the organic food to be fresh and local. .. Well living here in New England I really don’t expect the Winter Veggies to be local .. but fresh.. damn right! But the point of this is that you need to be aware of what the organic certification does and does not cover. So buyer beware and take a good look at that organic produce [...click to contimue reading...]
Oct 082009
We kick off this series with a head to head competition of Organic Popcorn vs. Non-Organic Popcorn. Now as you know, popcorn is a fantastic snack, good for you and good nutrition. I like it’s taste, it’s mouth-feel… even making it is fun. My personal preference is the air popper…easy, no mess and no fat.. plus no saucepan to clean. But, like most natural foods Popcorn has been messed with. With popcorn you have your usual problems of modern mass production methods of spraying, fertilizing etc. which may be “not-good”. Let me put it this way, I just don’t want [...click to contimue reading...]
