Your organic food: Made in China Part 1. Why you should give a hill of beans about it

[cali]

By Anne Galloway on December 2, 2009



For years, I’ve kept a store of rice, oats and canned goods, along with pickles, potatoes, shelled beans and frozen vegetables, in the cellar of our old farm house. I buy food in bulk quantities and put up as much as I can from our garden. Going to all this trouble in summer is like holding down an extra part-time job, but I do it because I like to have some idea of where my family’s food comes from.

Recently, though, I began to have doubts about the bulk buying part of my hoarding strategy. Three months ago, I ordered a 5-pound bag of organic black beans from my local food-buying club. When the bag arrived, I was dismayed to find that the source origination cited on the package from United Natural Foods Inc. was not California, or the Midwest.

The country of origin was a place I tend to associate with melamine-laced baby formula: China.

Until that point, I had naively assumed that the bulk food I ordered through the club and purchased from my local co-op was grown domestically.
It turns out my assumption was wrong. A surprising number of organic products available at co-ops and natural food stores in Vermont now come from China.

These are the Chinese organics I’ve been able to identify: fresh garlic, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, black beans, soybeans, adzuki beans and mung beans. In addition, most natural foods stores and co-ops offer frozen foods from Woodstock Farms, a house brand owned by UNFI that distributes imported Chinese broccoli, asparagus, spinach, peas, mushrooms, edamame and peppers. Some frozen foods from Cascadian farms, including the company’s California mix (cauliflower, broccoli and carrots), are also from China.

Since I bought that first bag of Chinese beans in September, I’ve asked a lot of questions and been transferred from one communications officer to the next, put in voicemail hell and given punts like my personal favorite, “Could you please put your questions in an e-mail?” (So that we can ignore them forever.)

<snip>

http://vtdigger.org/2009/12/02/your-organic-food-made-in-china-part-1-why-you-should-give-a-hill-of-beans/

[Le Taz Hot]

1. I'm in California and can buy organics

from the local farmers at farmers markets but I know most of them DO ship. Could you not buy them directly from the farmers? The added benefit, of course, is that you're cutting out the middleman.

[cali]

5. Read both of Annie's articles. Long but worth it.

She goes into explaining labeling and distribution. In CA you may be able to buy directly from farmers but in most other places that's not an option for much of the year.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Would it be possible for you to buy

in-season produce, have it shipped directly from the farm, and then can what you don't use? I know canning is becoming a lost art but I find I can supplement my grocery bill by maybe 70% or more in the off-season by using these methods. California has VERY strict standards when it comes to farmers claiming their produce is organic.

Anecdotal: The author talks about a cook in a restaurant getting garlic from China instead of California because it was cheaper. I went to Food Max a while back and started to buy garlic. I noticed it was from somewhere in Mexico. Now, I live 120 miles from Gilroy, California, THE GARLIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, and they're shipping garlic probably 3,000 miles from Mexico. It's hard for me to believe that garlic traveling 3,000 miles is cheaper than garlic traveling 120 miles. :wtf: Needless to say, I didn't buy the garlic from them.

[cali]

13. I don't know. Interesting thought.

I do a lot of canning. Have for years, but I admit to still wanting fresh produce in winter.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Oh, I Jones BAD in the winter

for fresh fruits. Currently, the only fresh fruit is citrus -- which is cool but I would SOOO love a nice Crenshaw Melon right about now. But I refuse to buy produce (or dry goods) it if it comes from outside the U.S. There are exceptions, of course. I've yet to find a U.S. manufacturer for Tahini and I MUST have my hummus fix on a semi-regular basis.

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Fresh produce where you live could be had through greenhouse and hydroponic operations.

There's a company in Maine producing cluster tomatoes that way, with a goal to be doing so year round AND using only renewable energy resources for heat. If they can do it in central Maine, it can be done in VT, and tomatoes need not be the only crop -- lettuces and other greens are pretty easy to grow in greenhouses too.
http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/008875.html

The barrier is cost. Imports from halfway around the world are cheaper at your local supermarket than off season locally produced ones will be unless a local outfit figures out a way to compete. What the Maine company has figured out is that people WILL pay a little bit because of perceived better quality.

[Christa]

2. K & Highly rec'd nt

[hobbit709]

3. The Chinese use the chemistry definition of organic.

"If there's carbon in the molecule, it's organic"

[ixion]

4. it's a sad day when you can't even trust organic food

I buy mostly organic -- probably about 95%. I trust Amy's, by and large, but you have to be careful of the Big Players trying to rebrand (like Cascadian Farms)

Here's a good article to cross reference this with, about Organic companies with ties to Big Food:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?address=389x5272104&az=view_all

[cali]

6. thanks for the link

it is a sad thing but it's better to be informed.

[ixion]

7. very true

better to be informed. :)

[amborin]

26. or Horizon

we buy organic milk, knowing some large % of each container is not actually organic

[chimpymustgo]

8. Whole Foods frozen shrimp from Thailand. Any thoughts, anyone?

I generally dislike frozen shrimp, but Whole Foods had a great special a couple of weeks ago (buy one 4 lb bag, get one free). I generally trust Whole Foods (silly me), and didn't read the label till I got home. I've seen news reports about horrible shrimping conditions in Vietnam. Anyone know about Thailand?

[OregonBlue]

22. I spend a lot of time in Thailand and it's awful what shrimp farming is doing to the South.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-rbogcoast.1.11278833.html

This article makes it sound like things are getting better but they are not. Many of the small farmers have stopped shrimp farming but of course the big industries have moved in to ramp it up big time. Many of the islands in the south are now almost covered with shrimp farms. It is killing the mangroves and destroying fresh water in a very hot country that needs all the fresh water they can get. In addition, by adding antibiotics to the shrimp ponds, they are creating drug resistant organisms of all kinds. Lots of articles in the Bangkok Post about this the last few years.

It's very bad and it is getting worse, not better.

Sorry, I'd love to tell you those shrimp you bought were okay but no, they are helping to destroy the ecosystem of Thailand.

[amborin]

28. I would never eat any fish from Thailand

polluted waters!

also won't eat any fish from South or Central America---it's all either farmed (kills off other fish) or from tainted waters

[Gormy Cuss]

32. WF claims to have stricter food quality and environmental standards with its farmed seafood vendors.

If you trust them, go ahead and buy it. I avoid farmed seafood as much as possible. I buy American caught wild shrimp frozen at WF. I don't have the choice of sizes but that's a trade off that is acceptable for me.

A good guide for making choices with seafood is available here:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx

[CoffeeCat]

9. Food from China is "organic" not organic.

I think it's utterly ridiculous to expect that truly organic food would come from China. You've
got the "organic" label on it, but what does that mean? It's supposed to mean that it truly meets
certain standards. That's a huge problem.

The U.S. certainly isn't questioning China about adhering to organic standards. There are no checks and balances
in place on the US side to ensure that organic from China is really organic.

Let's say that the U.S was questioning China--would we actually trust that China was meeting those organic standards?
They might say it's organic, but what agency or people in China ensures that organic truly means organic?

We all know how it works over there. If it's coming from China, in bulk, it's all run by the government. They
don't even care about their own people. And we're going to trust their standards--which is probably three guys
from the Chinese military deeming food organic--when they could care less whether it is or not.

Thanks for posting this. It is important. You really have to work hard NOT to be killed by the
stuff in the grocery stores these days. Between high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fats
and now important crap from countries that have NO regulation--you have to work hard to avoid the hazards.

[Blue State Blues]

11. even if they truly used organic methods

there's still the tremendous amount of pollution to contend with ...

[sendero]

10. I figure..

... that about half of the food produced domestically and labeled "organic" is actually organic.

I figure that for food imported from China and labeled "organic", about 1% might be actually organic.

[CrispyQ]

15. I bought a couple of packages of "Chinese" type box dinners -

noodles with Kung Pao sauce, that type of thing. I was looking for something quick for days I don't feel like cooking from scratch. I didn't read the label closely enough before preparing. Even though both claimed to be the same type of noodle with basically the same ingredients, the Simply Asia noodles were slimy, sticky & gross. Very unappealing! The Annie Chun's noodles were far superior. We ended up throwing the Simply Asia dish away. Later I checked out the packages & the Simply Asia noodles are a product of China; the Annie Chun's noodles are a product of the USA. My first thought about the Simply Asia noodles was "melamine noodles!" Even though that is unlikely the case, the quality difference was amazing!

I was saddened to see that even some well know organic brands, like Eden, have imported products from China. I agree with the poster above - even if you could trust that the product is actually organic, the pollution factor alone makes food products from China suspect.

I take the time to write to the manufacturers & tell them I will no longer purchase these products from China, even though I liken it to writing to my elected representatives. You get a canned response back & your letter goes in the round file.

A snip from the referenced article:

"...when government officials and businesses are this reluctant to provide information about basic quality controls for organic foods that are grown in China, one wonders what they don’t want us to know."

And yet our government is vastly concerned about the quality of drugs from Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. Yeah, right. :eyes:

These two separate issues illustrate perfectly, that our government is all about protecting corporate profits rather than the safety of the People.

[cali]

16. I'm glad you found the article useful

Annie is an amazing journalist. She's a true investigative journalist and even though vtdigger focuses on Vermont, many of the articles on her site have far broader implications- as this article demonstrates.


And yeah, I'm plugging a friend's site, but it's because it's so good, not because it's a friend's.

[customerserviceguy]

17. What's most disenheartening about your story

is that your local food buying clubs are the ones selling you out. I expect this of Whole Foods or the other mega-conglomerate bullshitters who are trying to sucker people who simply look at the word "organic", then stop reading, but I'm surprised to hear that people who I would normally trust to be concerned about food sources to be pulling this crap.

[cali]

18. Yes, that is very disheartening, and it's not only Vermont's co-ops but

nationwide. One of the big problems is distributors.

[msongs]

19. China has taken over the garlic business - here in CA, garlic capital, its nearly all from china nt

[amborin]

29. beat me to it! Ca garlic used to come from Gilroy, now from China

[bvar22]

20. And its getting worse.

The food production and delivery system in the US can NOT be trusted.

Even the local Farmer's Markets can't be trusted.
Some of the vendors will use MORE chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers than the Factory Farms, especially if their small crop is threatened.
THEN, they WILL tell you to your face, "Sure, all my stuff is organic".
(Not all vendors, but some.)
We grow a good percentage of our own food, but it is impossible to grow everything.
It is becoming MORE difficult to determine the origin of what we buy because Corporate Interests work to hide that from the consumer.
Packaged Foods are the WORST.

The only way to KNOW for Sure is to grow it yourself.

[cali]

21. or to know the vendors at your local farmer's market

[Maat]

23. Not mine.

Mine is locally-grown, organically-grown produce - I know the growers. I acknowledge, however, that not everyone is as fanatical about researching their food and its origin as I am.:)

And, I've VERY lucky to live in a section of California (near Temecula, Fallbrook, Valley Center) in which so much is grown locally. I wish that I could bring it to all of my friends.

[Odin2005]

24. This is why I think organic food is a scam

An excuse to jack up prices and get more profits from upper-middle class yuppies.

[TwilightGardener]

25. Most of the frozen fish I've been buying comes from China--I finally looked

at the back of bags and boxes. So I've stopped buying it. I just don't trust it.

[AspenRose]

27. That's depressing.

[roody]

31. Thanks for the reminder to know your food sources.

[Cetacea]

33. K&R.