Synthetic fertilizers were substituted because they cost less than 5% of the price of organic fertilizers. Yes, substituting a cheap ingredient for the more expensive, labeled ingredient usually goes over well.
Organic Farms Unknowingly Used A Synthetic Fertilizer [Sacramento Bee]
(Photo: What Rhymes with Nicole)
@Fresh-Fest-1986: I think it's just cuz people form their opinions based on personal experience. Nobody's saying that vegans are smug about their diet, but all the ones I've ever met are douchebags. Simple observation.
]]>http://www.sacbee.com/288/story/1501772.html
More than just the dishonest fertilizer company should be punished.
Makes you wonder how many people who were eating 'organic' for serious health reasons died or became sicker due to this ignorance.
It will be interesting to see how the law suits progress.
]]>"Fertilizer merchant" is so going into my vocabulary now.
]]>@oneandone: Yeah, toxic or synthetic chemicals is what I meant. Plus, I have issues with the overuse of synthetic fertilizers in farming and how it affects waterways and the whole eco-system.
I prefer to buy from local growers who I can communicate with about what and how they grow but, in cases like this, they may have every intention of growing organically but aren't because of the greed of others.
]]>@SunnyLea: Hopefully there are more! In the meantime - virtual high five!
]]>@bagumpity: With organic foods it's all about infrastructure issues. To an extent the the credibility of almost all companies who claim organic has been jeopardized simply by their success. Consumers wanted zero to 100 mph with their diets and agriculture just doesn't work like that. Organic certification for farms is an extensive process and corners were bound to be cut. It sucks, but to a lot, was forseeable.
]]>And Marie Antoinette says: "Let them eat organic!"
]]>I also think "All-Natural" and organic should mean the same thing. Bread almost always says "all-natural" even though the crops have been sprayed with pesticides. That is not natural. The pesticides should have to be listed as ingredients, sine they are in the food you are eating.
]]>Uh, I think the point he was trying to make was that this was known about in 2005.
]]>@megs29:
Not really, if you think about it. Pesticides and such are a cheap way to keep, well, pests off of food, which damages crops. Without it, there isn't as easy a way to keep pests away. (Although I have heard of some promising alternatives, like the ladybug)
Sort of like paying for a burger over making food yourself; you pay more for the convenience. It's just in this case, it's their convenience, not yours.
]]>Wow, talk about an asshole. As stated above, some people find the taste/flavor/whatever better. There's no reason to be a dick about it.
The fact of the matter here was that people had purchased something, and they were lied to about what they were buying. That is Consumerist-worthy regardless of what it was, and I personally find your comment to be the likes of blame-the-victim dickheads that Consumerist is so consumed with these days.
]]>Although I wonder if some sort of class action lawsuit could come of this.. people have been paying a premium for a product that is could have been sold under false pretenses. Hmm..
]]>Yes, the idea is great and I heartily approve of it, but once the term gets Whole Food-ed and even worse Archer Daniels Midland-ed then it's been diluted to uselessness. Just look at what qualifies as 'organic free range chicken' as well.
]]>News like this makes me so glad I re-thought on buying Whole Foods stocks at $20. They probably have a long way to go yet--the one across the street from my house stocks this brand like mad.
]]>Just for confusing funsies -- fish (not shellfish, but fish) are not only generally kosher, but also pareve, meaning they are neutral foods and not considered meat. You can mix fish with dairy with impunity!
Shellfish, on the other hand, would make it non-kosher. Also catfish. Jews aren't supposed to eat bottom-feeders in general. :)
]]>@Applekid: I don't understand the entire "Because people choose another type of diet, they are immediately smug as hell" movement. I see this time and time again all over the internet. People hate vegetarians or vegans like they killed their favorite puppy. Same goes for those who choose to eat organic. I see a thousand comments pop up that are like "HAHAHA you morally superior bastards, you got what you deserved". But I never see anyone chiding those who eat whatever a "conventional" diet even is.
These other diet people always try to explain themselves in a logical manner saying things about helping the enviroment, or their health, or the whole humane thing. I dont eat any kind of specialized diet but understand the reasoning of those who do. Everytime I ask the intrawebs cloud about this mass hatred I always get responses that are like "One time in college I knew this crazy animal rights chick" or "My emo nephew is an asshole to those who dont eat meat". I just can't believe people base their entire opinions on weak anecedotes like these.
People who choose other diets %99 of the time do so after informed research and just because they might pay more doesn't make them dicks.
Go Go Gadget!!
]]>@Red-headed bookworm: Very serious flaws - we have a lot wrong with our food production practices, regulation, and enforcement.
While I strongly agree with you, I'd like to gently point out something that others might be less sensitive about - though you probably mean "synthetic chemicals" or "toxic chemicals" or something similar, saying you don't want chemicals in your food doesn't mean precisely that.
Every type of matter is chemicals - which I'm sure you're aware of. But this kind of shorthand leads to the misconceptions that not only are there no 'good chemicals' but that anything natural (or 'non-chemical') is safe and good. This is more than a pedantic point. There is a lot of scientific & legal debate over what are actually naturally derived substances and a lot of powerful interests weighing in on what should be labeled as natural, organic, safe, non-toxic, etc. Public confusion over the very idea of "chemicals" means that the more subtle distinctions get overlooked, and lay people's input is ignored because - as many scientists believe - they just don't understand the basics.
Sorry for the lecture - it's a pet peeve of mine, but mostly because it ends up with concerned people unintentionally shooting themselves in the foot when they're trying to bring important issues to light.
]]>@JulesNoctambule: I second that. I buy local eggs at a health food store. They are really good. The yolk is so dark and rich.
]]>@winstonthorne: Three. One to confirm it, one to hold it down, and one to (insert euphemism here).
Wait - you were talking about inspectors? I thought you meant priests.*
*I apologize in advance for the above joke.
]]>This makes me mad. I buy Earthbound Farms products. I don't want chemicals in my food nor do I want to add to the chemicals in the environment. I'm sure they didn't discount the fertilizer to the growers, either. I feel bad for the farmers who were relying on the honesty of their sellers in stating the fertilizer was organic. This shows the flaw in enforcing organic standards in the US>
]]>@VegasDarling: Organic and kosher have no connection. For example, there are many kosher foods that are not organic (e.g. gefilte fish).
Organic foods are typically marketed towards yuppy trash (e.g. me), although, it doesn't work on all yuppies (e.g. me).
]]>It wasn't intended for those who actually physically suffer as a direct result of the ammonium sulfate.
Should I have clarified that? Sorry for not running the sensitivity checker in my web browser before I posted.
I guess I find humor where I shouldn't sometimes. At least I'm not the only one.
]]>I'm not sure how organic foods, meat and eggs especially fare with kosher standards.
]]>@CorporateTool: I don't know about that - I know you can't use the same plate for meat and dairy, even if you wash them in between, so wouldn't the food coming into contact with and absorbing nonkosher products render it nonkosher?
]]>@lannister80: It's confusing to me - are organic foods marketed to Jews that follow kosher guidelines? Or does organic have nothing to with kosher, and it was just being used as slang? Curious minds with too much time on their hands want to know...
]]>In the past year a type of "pre-washed" lettuce lost its kosher certification as it had bugs in the lettuce (rendering it unkosher unless you re-washed it).
]]>Poo peddlar?
]]>@Applekid: Your last line totally made my day.
]]>I use the term "kosher" all the time in conversation to mean "allowed" or "OK" or whatever, but in a story all about food, it could be confusing to....someone?
]]>@pollyannacowgirl: I think the comedy is there because a lot of organic-o-philes are just so damned smug about it. I'm better than you because blah blah blah.
I just dig the taste of mega-pasturized organic milk and a big fan of chicken eggs with actual egg flavor. I really couldn't taste a difference with fruits and veggies so I stopped paying the organic premium on those.
And I don't think I'm better than anyone else for it.
Clearly I'm better than everyone else due to my taste in music.
]]>Also, I love pedantry, so nitpick away!
]]>Do you feel snarky when people paying for superpremium unleaded gasoline wind up with leaded/watered down?
Is it funny that people were defrauded? Some people avoid certain substances because they are allergic to them, or because they simply don't want to ingest them. If something is labeled to NOT contain something and it actually DOES, that's not cool.
]]>Are the ingredients non-kosher, or just non-organic? I know it seems pedantic, but I'm genuinely wondering.
]]>I'm gonna go with 'Shitmonger'
]]>It's wrong, very wrong, but man it's gotta be rough for the folks who have really been trying to eat organically and end up consuming the bad stuff anyway at a higher cost.
]]>Inspectors confirmed the taint in 2005
This, here, is the real story.
]]>