Posted on 03/04/2009 9:48:38 AM PST by reaganaut1
The national outbreak of salmonella in products with peanuts has been particularly unsettling for shoppers []who think organic food is safer.
The plants in Texas and Georgia that were sending out contaminated peanut butter and ground peanut products had something else besides rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings. They also had federal organic certification.
“Why is organic peanut butter better than Jif?” said Ms. Devlin-Sample, a nurse practitioner from Pelham, N.Y. “I have no idea. If we’re getting salmonella from peanut butter, all bets are off.”
Although the rules governing organic food require health inspections and pest-management plans, organic certification technically has nothing to do with food safety.
“Because there are some increased health benefits with organics, people extrapolate that it’s safer in terms of pathogens,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “I wouldn’t necessarily assume it is safer.”
But many people who pay as much as 50 percent more for organic food think it ought to be. The modern organic movement in the United States was started by a handful of counterculture farmers looking to grow food using methods that they believed were better for the land and produced healthier food. It was a culture built on purity and trust that emphasized the relationship between the farmer and the customer.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Organic is one of the biggest scams out there but there are idiots who fall for it. Many are the same idiots who got brainwashed by Obama because he’s an articulate and clean black man.
“rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings”
All 100% organic...
Organic. Whoopee.
That just means that illegal Mexican farmhands pee on it instead of walking over to the portapotty.
It’s only safer if you don’t count e-coli or salmonella.
Salmonella is completely organic, Ms. Devlin-Sample.
So, what’s your problem?
I refuse to pay extra for “organic” foods.
However, there are all sorts of reasons that pure peanut better is better than Jif (or Skippy, or any of the other concoctions mislabeled “peanut butter” that are sold to help fatten up our kids).
Here's the ingredients in a jar of Jif (from their web site):
Ingredients
MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR. CONTAINS 2 PERCENT OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN), FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES AND SALT.
Some brands substitute cheap vegetable oils for all of the (more expensive) peanut oil.
Here's the list of ingredients from the peanut butter I eat:
Ingredients: Just peanuts.
“They also had federal organic certification.”
Therein lies the problem. Federal anything is ill-conceived and unworkable. Turn it back to the states, and quit buying imported foods. Why can’t we feed our own?
I’ve never understood the obsession with “organic” — simply being organic doesn’t make something healthy or desirable for consumption. Crude oil is organic. Cocaine is organic. Horse manure is organic. Salmonella is organic. Dog meat is organic.
This is truly one of the biggest marketing coups I can think of.
SnakeDoc
Organic is one of the biggest scams out there but there are idiots who fall for it. Many are the same idiots who got brainwashed by Obama because he’s an articulate and clean black man.
Organic is not a scam. There are significant differences in some foods, but not all, when it comes to organic.
However, the point about food safety is generally a no-brainer. Of course organic is not necessarily any safer than conventionally raised foods. Consider two contrasting points. In some cases, the processing of organic food involves higher standards of cleanliness than for conventional foods. Raw milk, for example, must be produced in facilities that meet higher cleanliness standards than conventional milk. On the other hand, there are reports of “organically raised” pigs getting all the old diseases that plagued pig farms before antibiotics, vaccines, and growth hormones.
The organic food movement started out with the best of intentions. They made progress in some areas, screwed up in others, but they are still learning, still doing research, still making interesting discoveries.
And people still get sick from raw milk. I guess if they can find a way to fully sterilize udders they can eliminate the risk. That's not going to happen nor will they be able to eliminate the pathogens that come from inside the cow and pass through in the milk. Only pasteurization can eliminate that risk.
Organic has provided a means for small farmers to specialize rather than have to compete with the bigger corporate farms. That still doesn't take away from the fact that organic is a fraud that has successfully separated ignorant people from their money. I support your freedom of choice but paying more for organic food is a waste of money.
Organic- Now with more fecal-matter nutrients!!
I thought it was amusing when I would see the term “organic cotton” until I saw an item made from “organic wool”. Now it is simply annoying. I haven’t seen “organic leather” advertised. Not yet, but I’m sure I will.
Organic Leather would be funny and worth making fun of the Enviro-weenies.
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