Consumer Reports Helps Consumers Become Savvy Organic Shoppers

Organic products worth buying—and those you can skip;
Tips on buying organic without breaking the bank

YONKERS, NY – An investigation for the February 2006 issue of Consumer Reports has found that shoppers do not need to buy organic foods across the board to get added health value. The report tells shoppers which organic products are worth seeking out—and which ones are not. Consumers can pass on organic seafood and shampoo, for example, because their labels can be misleading.

The complete report, including a list of organic products that are worth buying and which are not, is available on www.ConsumerReports.org or at magazine newsstands beginning Jan. 10.

Among some of the recommendations Consumer Reports gives shoppers about organic products

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• Organic products worth buying to avoid chemicals found in the conventionally produced versions: Fruits and vegetables, such as apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, spinach, and strawberries. The USDA’s own lab testing reveals that even after washing, some fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticide residue than others. Meats, poultry, eggs, and dairy products are also worth seeking out.

• Organic products worth buying only if price is no object, include: processed foods and certain produce items, such as: cauliflower, sweet corn, broccoli, mangos, and sweet peas. Multiple pesticide residues are, in general, rarely found on conventionally grown versions of these fruits and vegetables, according to research by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

• Organically labeled items not worth buying include seafood and cosmetics. Whether caught in the wild or farmed, fish can be labeled organic, despite the presence of contaminants such as mercury and PCBs. The USDA has not yet developed organic certification standards for seafood. And while the USDA claims that organic labeled-cosmetics follow the same standards as food, Consumer Reports has found indiscriminate use of synthetic ingredients and violations of food-labeling standards.

The article also found that because of inconsistent and often weak government standards, organic-sounding labels could be confusing to consumers and even meaningless on some products due to lack of enforcement. Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., Environmental Health Scientist at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, says, “Not all organic products are created equal. It is important that consumers know where their organic dollars spent meet their expectations and where they don't.”

Even among the most meaningful and verified organic labels, there are subtle but important differences. If a product is labeled “organic,” at least 95 percent of its ingredients must be organically produced. There is one important exception, however: organic labels on seafood are meaningless because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has no standards to back them up. Also meaningless is the label “natural” or “all natural.” No standard definition for these terms exists except when it’s applied to meat and poultry products, which the USDA defines as not containing any artificial flavoring, colors, chemical preservatives, or synthetic ingredients, and even those claims are not independently verified.

Consumers interested in learning more about the health and environmental benefits of organic foods can visit www.GreenerChoices.org. Information about food labels is available at www.eco-labels.org.

Organic Without Breaking the Bank

“As soaring consumer demand for organic brings more big players into the industry, organic standards are under attack, so it’s more important than ever to know how to prioritize your spending to get the biggest bang for your buck,” says Andrea Rock, senior editor at Consumer Reports.

The experts at Consumer Reports found many ways to save when buying organic, including:

• Comparison shop – Doing price checks for regularly purchased organic items pays off: Consumer Reports found the price for the same jar of organic baby food ranged from 69 cents to $1.29 among several grocery stores in the suburban New York City area.

• Go local – Find organic growers at most farmers’ markets. A USDA study in 2002 found that about 40 percent of those farmers don’t charge a premium.

• Join the farm team – By buying a share in a community-supported organic farm consumers may get a weekly supply of produce in season for less than non-organic supermarket prices.
• Order by mail – National providers will ship items such as organic beef (www.mynaturalbeef.com)

. Other helpful sites are www.eatwellguide.org and www.theorganicpages.com.

How to Add Oomph to ‘Organic’

THE organic industry has gone wild in the last decade, but you wouldn’t know it at the Department of Agriculture.

Despite year after year of double-digit growth, organics receive a pittance in financing and staff attention at the department, which is responsible for writing regulations about organics and making sure that they are upheld.

The National Organic Program, which regulates the industry, has just nine staff members and an annual budget of $1.5 million. A Florida real estate developer named Maurice Wilder received more than that in farm subsidies in 2005, some $1,754,916, to be exact, according to a subsidy database maintained by the Environmental Working Group.

Other parts of the Department of Agriculture spend roughly $28 million or so a year on organic research, data collection and farmer assistance. It may sound significant, but the department spent far more than that, $37 million, subsidizing farmers who grew dry peas in 2005. (The farm value of dry peas is about $83 million a year. Consumers spend more than $14 billion a year on organic food, up from $3.6 billion in 1997.)

It’s not entirely surprising that organics are such a low priority at the department and in Congress. Both the agency and farm-state members of Congress are reliable cheerleaders for industrialized agriculture, and Big Ag has often viewed organics with suspicion, if not outright disdain.

But the Department of Agriculture is crucial to the future success of organics, which depends on the credibility of the U.S.D.A. organic seal.

If you are shelling out $6 for a gallon of organic milk, you deserve to feel confident that the cows that produced the milk weren’t shot full of growth hormones or fed soybeans sprayed with pesticide.

Lately, however, the credibility of organic products has been under nearly constant attack.

Hoping to cash in on the organic trend, all sorts of entrepreneurs, overseas farmers and conventional food companies have jumped into the business and are pushing the definitions of organic into new and questionable territory.

What began as a label for produce and dairy products is now being slapped on frozen dinners and macaroni and cheese, and the National Organic Program is constantly being asked to define standards for other commodities like fish and yeast.

As organic processed foods have proliferated, companies have pushed the Department of Agriculture to approve the use of non-organic ingredients like food colorings, hops and sausage casings.

Huge organic dairies have been built to replicate the low-cost methods of conventional factory farms, but in doing so, some have skirted an organic rule that requires that cows have access to pasture.

Most important, perhaps, as demand for organic foods has outstripped supply, an increasing amount is being imported from overseas, particularly China, where regulatory oversight clearly has some problems.

No one knows exactly how many organic products are being imported to the United States because, amazingly, the federal government doesn’t keep track. But everyone agrees that the amount is increasing.

The National Organic Program doesn’t try to verify the authenticity of organics by itself, but instead relies on a network of third-party certifiers who are required to inspect organic farms and food companies and submit periodic reports.

That still leaves the organic program’s staff with plenty to do. It must write new regulations and shepherd them through the bureaucratic maze at the Department of Agriculture, work with the organic advisory board, review the accreditation of certifiers and help to investigate complaints.

With just nine employees, one of whom performs clerical duties, the National Organic Program would be lucky to effectively oversee the organic industry in Vermont, let alone the rest of the world.

“It’s a joke,” said George L. Siemon, who is chief executive of Organic Valley, a Wisconsin-based farmers’ cooperative, and is a former member of the National Organic Standards Board, an advisory board for the National Organic Program. “This is a pitiful amount of money, and we are running into all kinds of trouble.”

Mr. Siemon cited a rash of bad publicity about organics that has suggested that companies were trying to bend the organic rules.

One problem with such a small staff, he said, is that regulations take years to complete because so much work is stacked up. New pasture requirements for livestock, for instance, have been languishing for years.

As for the increase in organic imports from China, Mr. Siemon said: “Maybe everything is great and maybe it’s not. But it would be great if the U.S.D.A. had done a lot more work over there to find out what’s going on.”

Caren Wilcox, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, an industry group, agreed that the National Organic Program needed far more funding. Noting the double-digit growth of organics in the United States, Ms. Wilcox said in an e-mail message, “We need to be sure that N.O.P.’s resources are sufficient to keep up with that growth.”

She said in an interview that she felt “comfortable with their work on oversight, but I would feel more comfortable if they weren’t so stretched. They definitely need more.”

Kenneth C. Clayton, an associate administrator at the Department of Agriculture who oversees the National Organic Program, declined to comment specifically on the budget. But, he said: “Any additional resources we can get will be helpful. We have lots of work to do.”

The Bush administration’s proposed budget for 2008 calls for a major increase in funds for the National Organic Program, pushing its overall budget to about $2.7 million. The House version of the farm bill, passed late last month, authorizes more than $60 million a year in funding for various organic programs, including research and help for farmers who convert to organic methods.

Realistically, though, there’s little chance that $60 million will be spent each year because only a fraction of the money is mandatory spending.

Whether organic foods are healthier than conventional products is open to debate. But that doesn’t mean Congress should give short shrift to research and regulation of organics. The growing popularity of organic products helps small farmers stay in business. They’re also better for the environment and help ease farmers away from crops that require government subsidies.

Besides, voters like organic food better than dry peas.

How to Add Oomph to ‘Organic’

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Switching to organic is tough for many families who don’t want to pay higher prices or give up their favorite foods. But by choosing organic versions of just a few foods that you eat often, you can increase the percentage of organic food in your diet without big changes to your shopping cart or your spending.

The key is to be strategic in your organic purchases. Opting for organic produce, for instance, doesn’t necessarily have a big impact, depending on what you eat. According to the Environmental Working Group, commercially-farmed fruits and vegetables vary in their levels of pesticide residue. Some vegetables, like broccoli, asparagus and onions, as well as foods with peels, such as avocados, bananas and oranges, have relatively low levels compared to other fruits and vegetables.

So how do you make your organic choices count? Pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, whose new book “Raising Baby Green” explains how to raise a child in an environmentally-friendly way, has identified a few “strategic” organic foods that he says can make the biggest impact on the family diet.

1. Milk: “When you choose a glass of conventional milk, you are buying into a whole chemical system of agriculture,'’ says Dr. Greene. People who switch to organic milk typically do so because they are concerned about the antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides used in the commercial dairy industry. One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found certain pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample. The level is relatively low compared to some other foods, but many kids consume milk in large quantities.

2. Potatoes: Potatoes are a staple of the American diet — one survey found they account for 30 percent of our overall vegetable consumption. A simple switch to organic potatoes has the potential to have a big impact because commercially-farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested, according to the Environmental Working Group.

3. Peanut butter: More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any other fruits, vegetable or nut, according to the U.S.D.A. More than 99 percent of peanut farms use conventional farming practices, including the use of fungicide to treat mold, a common problem in peanut crops. Given that some kids eat peanut butter almost every day, this seems like a simple and practical switch. Commercial food firms now offer organic brands in the regular grocery store, but my daughter loves to go to the health food store and grind her own peanut butter.

4. Ketchup: For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake. About 75 percent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup. Notably, recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.

5. Apples: Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas, and they are also used in the second most popular juice, after oranges, according to Dr. Greene. But apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables. The good news is that organic apples are easy to find in regular grocery stores.

For a complete list of Dr. Greene’s strategic organic choices, visit Organic Rx

A Review of Hungry Planet, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio,
Material World Books and Ten Speed Press.  2005

Healthy Planet: Hungry Planet

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It’s all very good to strive for a healthier lifestyle.  Counting calories, limiting carbs, and buying organic are worthy endeavors, but for mere mortals like myself, that alone does not impel me to adopt better eating habits.  Because I’m an inveterate traveler, more interested in what’s going on outside my body, rather than inside, I get motivated when my choices involve a greater good.  Stepping out into the world, Hungry Planet offers just the push I need, as it allows its readers to ponder not only what we—individually—and as a people eat; but how our food choices impact the planet.

    Photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio literally invited themselves to dinner at 30 families homes, spanning 24 different countries.  Families are photographed with a weeks worth of the food they typically eat.  The Mendoza’s of Guatemala stand around a table laden with vegetables, bags of grains, and a few chickens nestled in a pot.  The food at the Bainton’s in Great Britain is either boxed or in a myriad of cans and jars—75% of it—processed in some manner.  The pictures are not the only compelling part of the book.  For each country, there are statistics ( health care expenditures, percentage of overweight population, and even the price of a Big Mac) that form a concrete picture of how very different diets are around the world.  The authors even provide a detailed grocery list with food costs broken down, and they helpfully converted those costs to US dollars.  If you are so inclined to reproduce the meals, every family generously shares a recipe or two, so Ecuadorian potato soup or Greenlandic seal stew can be part of your repertoire. 

I have a history with these authors. Ten years ago I sat mesmerized, reading the stories and looking at the pictures of the families that Menzel and D’Aluisio featured in their best seller, Material World, a similar book that featured families with everything they own.  That book also had statistics and moving stories about every family within, and since there are a few of these families featured in Hungry Planet, it was satisfying seeing the children grow up and the parents grow older.  Hungry Planet has a sense of continuity that few books can offer. 

Having eaten pho in Vietnam, moose in Norway and freshly caught tuna in Japan, I am intimate with the idea that everyone eats, albeit from different parts of the food chain.  But to have all the information and brilliant photos laid out in one place drives home how varied the diets are around the world.  Beware,  you don’t want to gorge on the feast of pictures and essays in one sitting, it’s too overwhelming.  Rather take it in small bites and savor the stories.

What is most relevant to readers of MyHealthGate is how reading this book inspired me towards more healthy eating habits.  Not only out of shame, because I wonder what someone would say about us if they saw the stacks of Capri Sun that our daughter takes in her lunch, but because the families with the diets that include fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meats look healthier.  I’m not the only one inspired to eat better. 

Menzel writes in the afterward, “Have we changed our diets?  Faith and I have always been aficionados of the fresh and in-season.  New converts to the many benefits of organic food, we now seek it out in the grocery, but have long had a big vegetable garden and enjoy eating what we grow.”  On a global scale, the blight and waste from all the food packaging alone, is sorely evident as a weeks worth of consumption is laid out for the world to examine.  Healthy food choices, reflect healthy environmental practices, which in turn sustain our planet, in a way that ultimately provides what we need to remain alive. 

It’s all interconnected, and that’s Hungry Planet’s impact, it reminds its readers that hungry or healthy, it’s the only planet we have.