Living Maxwell
Company Stories
Natural Products Expo West, the largest organic trade show in the U.S., was held last week in Anaheim and attracted more than 65,000 visitors.
I came across some fantastic innovation at the show — a handful of products that I had never seen before and others that brought me back to my childhood.
Here are my Top 5 Organic Products of Expo West 2023:
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
Last week in Costa Rica, I visited with some women entrepreneurs who are receiving microloans from the Whole Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization of Whole Foods.
I have written about the Whole Planet Foundation before and the amazing job that it is doing around the world but meeting the loan recipients in-person gave me a much greater appreciation for the impact that this program is having.
Women entrepreneurs from impoverished communities receive loans, starting at a few hundred dollars, to start businesses – baking, sewing, buying animals, running a small store, etc. With a 98% success rate (only 2% of the loans default), this incremental revenue plays an essential role in improving the well-being and welfare of thousands of families.
A message from Tradin Organic
At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.
And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
While I promote organic food as much as I can and want to help the industry prosper, I also feel a need to educate and inform my readers.
Without question, organic food is the healthiest food that exists and is something that I believe can feed the planet. However, sometimes the packaging of organic food products is not always the best.
I have talked a lot in the past about my aversion to plastic bottles. Aside from the fact that they are horrible for the environment, they are also hormone (endocrine) disruptors.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
Recently, I got an e-mail from a reader asking how she would know if she is eating genetically-modified soy or not.
Figuring that many other people may have that same question, I wanted to explain how to avoid eating genetically-modified food (GMOs) and the things that you need to look out for.
#1 – Buy USDA Certified Organic Products GMOs are prohibited in organic food. Therefore, look for products that contain the USDA certified organic seal.
Even though GMOs are prohibited in organic, organic crops can be contaminated by GMOs through cross-pollination and drift. (That is why the proliferation of GMOs is a real threat to organic farming. The co-existence of GM-crops and organic crops is simply not possible, despite what our government would like us to believe.)
USDA rules require that organic certifiers test samples from at least 5% of the operations they certify on an annual basis.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
If you are a bread lover, which so many of us are, there is just another reason why you should be eating organic: potassium bromate.
Potassium bromate is an additive used in flour which strengthens the dough and allows it to rise higher. Furthermore, it gives the finished bread an appealing white color.
But, the problem is that this additive is also linked to cancer.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
For the first time in three years, the Fancy Food Show returned to New York City, and as usual, it was a spectacular show.
While walking around the show on the first day, I was getting a bit concerned that I wasn’t going to find some stellar new organic products. But by the end of the show on the third day, I completely changed my mind.
Some of the new organic products that I discovered have the potential to be very large, well-known national brands, and the innovation that I saw was outstanding. Additionally, narrowing this list down to just five products was incredibly challenging. It easily could have been ten.
Here are my Top 5 Organic Products of Fancy Food Show 2022.
A message from Tradin Organic
For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.
The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.
Organic Insider
Must-Read
One of the reasons that many of us purchase organic is because we don’t want to put food into our bodies that contains synthetic chemicals.
Yet even though we may not eat conventionally-grown food ourselves, we still need to be very aware (and concerned) about what is going on in the non-organic world. Why?
Because the toxic chemicals that are sprayed on conventionally-grown food end up in the water supply.
And the EPA is not doing its job when it comes to protecting the integrity of our water.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
In what is sure to send shockwaves throughout the entire industry, A-list celebrity Jennifer Garner and John Foraker, former President of Annie’s, have signed on to become co-founders of organic baby food company Once Upon a Farm, alongside current co-founders Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz.
Having recently stepped down as the head of Annie’s, where he led the company for 18 years and negotiated its sale to General Mills for $820 million, John Foraker is one of the most accomplished and respected executives the organic industry has ever seen. And if you combine that with Jennifer Garner’s star power, branding acumen and dedication to both healthy food and helping children, Once Upon a Farm will be a very, very serious force in the fast-growing organic baby food segment.
