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iPhone App Claims It Can Detect If Food Is Organic: A Local Organic Farmer Weighs In
Broward New Times ^ | Fri., Aug. 24 2012 | Tricia Woolfenden

Posted on 08/26/2012 4:29:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Ever get the sneaking suspicion that corporations -- or hell, even the mango vendor at the local farmers' market -- are conspiring to use your fear of ingesting chemicals to get you to spend more money on food? Those who worry that they're being misled about the veracity of certain "organic" claims will soon have a pricy tool to protect themselves; at least in theory.

Lapka has created a personal environmental monitor via a sleek iPhone accessory and app that claims to be able to test for radiation, electromagnetic fields, humidity, and organicity by way of four separate plug-ins. The product should debut in late 2012 and according to the maker, the device "is designed to look for significant quantities of nitrates in raw foods and drinking water caused by residues of synthetic fertilizers." Notice the word raw: This won't be able to tell you whether those Newman-O's live up to their label.

The device tests for organicity by way of a tiny stainless steel probe -- designed "for medical accuracy and enhanced durability" -- that is inserted into the food. So, yeah: You'll have to stab the food in order to evaluate it. Not sure how Whole Foods or Publix will take to shoppers poking holes in their apples and kale before purchase, so good luck with that one. But that's not the only reason to pause before plunking down $220 for the innovative device.

Because the product description only mentions nitrates (certainly not the only issue at hand with organics), Clean Plate Charlie reached out to resident organic farming expert and "hot farmer" Jason McCobb (aka. Farmer Jay) for his take on the device. Bear in mind that neither McCobb nor Clean Plate Charlie have used or interacted with Lapka, so all comments are based only on press materials available at this time.

"The concept is interesting, but I am more worried about pesticide and fungicide residues," said McCobb via email. "Doesn't sound like it will detect those. I like some of the other features better, like EMF and radiation (detection). It will probably be like the mosquito repellent app or the metal detector app; good in theory, but not functional."

McCobb also made an interesting point about what the market for such a device says about some people's inclinations to exploit the organic food movement: "It really sucks that we need to spend so much money and time to protect ourselves from liars and people that are trying to scavenge on our movement."

If going organic is important to you, make friends with local growers and give your business to people you feel you can trust. Otherwise, for now -- as always -- the only way to know what you're getting, with 100-percent certainty, is to grow it yourself. Good thing Florida's hell summer is just about coming to a close.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Computers/Internet; Food
KEYWORDS: food; iphone; organic
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1 posted on 08/26/2012 4:30:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Cue the Gallagher geico commercial


2 posted on 08/26/2012 4:45:29 PM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: nickcarraway

So, non-organic food is inorganic?


3 posted on 08/26/2012 4:55:16 PM PDT by umgud (No Rats, No Rino's)
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To: nickcarraway

I always thought the way to tell if produce is organic was to be sure it is small, pest damaged, and swarming with e-coli from all the s*** they dump on the fields. It should also cost 2 to 3 times more than the nicer looking and nutritionally identical produce grown with modern agricultural practices.


4 posted on 08/26/2012 5:04:58 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: nickcarraway

I recently went to a lecture on grape/vineyard production and someone asked a question about organic.
The guy giving the lecture said “organic” is just a label to make the consumer feel good, and that’s it.
He went on to say that food production in the US is so tightly control there is nothing that is not technically organic but most people don’t want to go through the process of applying for the certificate because it cost so much.
So that’s one/his opinion, I am not a farmer so I can’t say for sure but it sounded reasonable.


5 posted on 08/26/2012 5:15:44 PM PDT by svcw (If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)
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To: svcw

Well, most regular supermarket vegetables are subsidized by illegal immigrant labor. People are angry about paying a tiny bit more for vegetables, but then they don’t like illegal immigrants, which they are causing.


6 posted on 08/26/2012 5:20:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Fools eat organic. And free range and whatever else. Fools.


7 posted on 08/26/2012 5:41:06 PM PDT by youngidiot (The name's Bond. James Bond. James Bond Jovi.)
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To: youngidiot

You support completely unfettered illegal immigration?


8 posted on 08/26/2012 5:42:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Getting fleeced by the faux ‘Organic Grocer’?...Yeah, there’s an app for that..


9 posted on 08/26/2012 5:49:59 PM PDT by Fedupwithit ("Live Free or Die: Death is not the worst of evils" - Gen. John Stark)
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To: nickcarraway
No. I also refuse to buy into the virtues of “organic”. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
10 posted on 08/26/2012 5:57:54 PM PDT by youngidiot (The name's Bond. James Bond. James Bond Jovi.)
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To: nickcarraway

Uh, unless you eat rocks, your food is organic.


11 posted on 08/26/2012 6:02:15 PM PDT by TruthBeforeAll (Liberals love to do what is "best" for you, even if it kills you.)
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To: youngidiot

I agree. Raise anything you want and when you take it to market, put an “organic” sign on it, and up the price.


12 posted on 08/26/2012 6:02:17 PM PDT by MisterArtery
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To: umgud
So, non-organic food is inorganic?

Yes, I said so for years.

I ALWAYS choose inorganic foods, only eat organic when the real stuff isn't available.

13 posted on 08/26/2012 6:27:10 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Liberals, at their core, are aggressive & dangerous to everyone around them,)
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To: nickcarraway

Most all food is organic. Besides sodium chloride and water, what common food substance is not organic?


14 posted on 08/26/2012 6:40:57 PM PDT by spintreebob
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To: spintreebob

Organic means “wormy”


15 posted on 08/26/2012 7:11:12 PM PDT by american_ranger
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To: youngidiot

Have you ever had a supermarket tomato? They were picked green three months before, gassed to make them red, and bred for transportation. Why would pay any money for something that tastes awful? I wouldn’t.


16 posted on 08/26/2012 7:15:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Someone gave me a couple of home-grown tomatoes recently. I made them into sauce. Boy was that sauce good! So sweet!


17 posted on 08/26/2012 7:16:51 PM PDT by thecodont
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To: Vaquero
"Happier than Gallagher at a farmer's market!"

LOL!!!

18 posted on 08/26/2012 7:20:07 PM PDT by Stonewall Jackson ("I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.")
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To: nickcarraway
The tomatoes are terrible. We grow some of our own or we buy them roadside from some hippies.

I remember reading these usenet sites years ago where the liberals were discussing ways to take the wind out of America's sails. They agreed that our food is too inexpensive and that if we were made to spend more on food we'd have less left over to destroy the Earth (or whatever). I have a real problem with that notion. I don't want to go back to the days where food was so damned scarce that oranges were given away as Christmas gifts. I think it's great that a much smaller percentage of our population is needed to grow our food. Just my take.

19 posted on 08/26/2012 7:23:01 PM PDT by youngidiot (The name's Bond. James Bond. James Bond Jovi.)
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To: nickcarraway

All food is organic; the stuff fertilized with shit is just more expensive and more likely to kill you.


20 posted on 08/26/2012 7:23:43 PM PDT by SeaHawkFan
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