Mark Bittman, the author of several books and long-time food columnist for the NY Times, recently wrote a very good op-ed piece that is worth reading.

His Why Aren’t GMO Foods Labeled? is something that every citizen in our country should be asking our politicians. And demanding answers.

Europe requires that GMO foods be labeled because they believe in giving consumers a choice and proper information about the foods that they are putting into their bodies.

In the U.S., our politicians are extremely beholden to Big Ag and don’t want to label foods as genetically-modified because they are scared that people won’t buy them.

Given that 70% of our supermarket shelves contain GMOs, I can see why they would be concerned. There would be a massive transition to organic food and conventional food companies would suffer tremendously.

Yet, our lawmakers have concluded that GMO foods are “generally regarded as safe” and they completely ignore the way in which a food is manufactured. Read more »

One question has been really bothering me as of late: Is there such a thing as USDA certified organic honey?

Despite the picture you see above, there is good reason for me to have serious doubt.  Here is why.

In the past, I have spoken to numerous local beekeepers and when I asked them if their honey is organic, they have all told me that there is no such thing as USDA certified organic honey.

Yet when I go to the market, I see one or two brands of honey that have the USDA organic seal on the label. Almost all of the honey that has the seal on it comes from Brazil, which has made me wonder whether there is some type of corruption going on with the certification. Read more »

The evidence just keeps rolling in that the USDA and the Obama administration are firmly against organic food. And for someone who is so passionate about organics and understands its importance to good health, it is getting very, very hard to take.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White recently banned the USDA from allowing genetically-engineered sugar beets to be planted until a complete Environment Impact Study (EIS) has been completed. The objective of this study is to prove whether or not GE-sugar beets will harm the environment and impact/contaminate local organic and non-GE growers. (More than half of the nation’s granulated sugar comes from GE-sugar beets — the rest comes from sugar cane.)

Of course, we know that the GE-sugar beets will do both. GE-seeds have already created many problems with superweeds, and the toxic chemicals that get sprayed on the GE-seeds pollute our precious water supply. Read more »

Source: USDA

When I tell people that President Obama and his team are adamantly against organic food, I always get a quizzical look.

Or, they give me a “really?  He is? I never knew that.”

Well, today’s ruling by the USDA is just another example of how this administration wants to do everything it can to placate Monsanto while simultaneously eliminating organics.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack (pictured) announced this afternoon that genetically-engineered alfalfa could be sold and grown without any type of restriction.

In a previous post, I went into the details of how this will destroy the organic dairy industry. It will also kill the organic meat industry. Cows and cattle eat organic alfalfa. Read more »

There is a very important decision about to take place in Washington D.C. that could literally destroy the organic dairy industry. And it has to do with genetically-engineered alfalfa.

Within the next few days, the USDA is set to announce its policy regarding GE-alfalfa. Why should we care about this?

1) Despite the fact that organic alfalfa is something that most of us never buy at the supermarket, organic alfalfa is what is fed to cows to make organic milk. Read more »

Finally, we have a politician who is tired of all the shenanigans going on at the FDA and USDA, and he is taking action. His name is Jared Huffman, a California State Assemblyman representing the 6th District (Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties).

Based on everything I have been reading and despite the massive protests against it, the FDA is getting ready to approve genetically-engineered salmon. In a previous post, I went into all of the reasons why this is absolute lunacy and even some federal agencies, such as The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are adamantly against it.

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, President Obama has said not one word about this issue. This doesn’t surprise me in the least as he continues to prove how against organic food he is.

Assuming genetically-engineered salmon gets approved, the next fight looming is to require that this FrankenFish be labeled as genetically-modified. Right now, there is no law in the U.S. that says genetically-modified food must be labeled. Read more »

This morning I read a very well-written and interesting piece in the Los Angeles Times about what is going on in the organic wine world.

For those who are unfamiliar with the details of organic wine, I wrote a blog post about this a while back. Essentially, naturally-occurring sulfites above a certain number are not allowed in USDA certified organic wine. Added sulfites are not allowed at all.

The Los Angeles Times discussed a movement going on that would allow sulfites to be added. Some organic wine producers want to be able to add sulfites because they think it would encourage more wine producers to grow more grapes organically, without the use of herbicides or pesticides. They also say that sulfites are important, given that wine is regularly shipped around the world and these sulfites are critical to help prevent the wine from going bad. Read more »