Where did your food come from?

Sweat Shop Organic Foods

2005-10-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

By PHILIP BRASHER Des Moines REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU October 8, 2005
Advocates tout organic food as a salvation for small U.S. farms. But more and more, organic food isn't American at all. The apples included.
Companies are cutting costs by importing not only bananas and coffee but also all-American commodities like soybeans, fruits and vegetables, and now even beef. The imports also feed U.S. consumers' growing demand for organic products — sales are increasing 20 percent a year nationwide.
A major U.S. organic grain supplier, Clarkson Grain Co. of Cerro Gordo, Ill., has lost 25 percent of its soybean business during the past year because of surging imports from China and South America.
U.S. farmers "will lose their markets overwhelmingly if they don't meet this competition," said the grain company's president, Lynn Clarkson.
One of the most popular brands of organic soy milk, Silk, is now made in part with imported soybeans.
Organic Valley, a Wisconsin-based farmer cooperative, imports some of its beef from Australia.
Cascadian Farm, a major name in organic frozen produce that started out buying commodities in the Pacific Northwest, now buys many of its fruits and vegetables from overseas.
According to package labels, the broccoli is from Mexico, the asparagus from China, the green peas from New Zealand, and the cherries and raspberries from Chile. Even the California-style vegetable mix isn't entirely American; some of the veggies originate in China.
Trader Joe's, a fast-growing grocery chain that attracts upscale shoppers with moderately priced natural foods, also is going to China and South America for its produce.
Fresh organic produce, including Chilean apples and Mexican vegetables, also is being widely imported by U.S. stores when domestic product is out of season, according to the Organic Trade Association.
All of these imported foods carry the U.S. Agriculture Department's green-and-white seal that certifies that they were grown according to the USDA's organic standards, which bar the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizer.
The foreign farms must be inspected by a USDA-approved certification agency.
This appetite for imports is not what many organic-food enthusiasts had in mind.
"This issue is going to become huge," said Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, which advocates buying from smaller-scale U.S. growers.
Consumers "don't realize that the USDA seal does not mean made in the USA," said Wende Elliott of Colo, Ia., who founded a cooperative of organic livestock producers.
Elliott's cooperative, Wholesome Harvest, sells meat to Sysco Food Services, Whole Foods Market, Hy-Vee and Dahl's, and competes with the foreign-grown products.
Buying imported food robs local communities of the environmental benefits of organic farming, she said. "It's great to clean up China and Argentina, but that doesn't help our local drinking water situation in Iowa," she said.
There are no reliable data on organic imports. The government does not keep separate numbers on organic and conventional food shipments.
However, a recent USDA study estimated that the United States imported as much as $1.5 billion in organic food in 2002, while exporting as little as $125 million worth of organic products.
U.S. growers face distinct disadvantages, according to the study. Growing crops without chemicals requires more workers to cultivate the crops, and cheap labor is plentiful in poorer countries. Canada has a shorter growing season, which means fewer weeds to pick. The European Union directly subsidizes farmers to grow organic crops.
The USDA has appointed 99 companies and government agencies to certify organic farms and processors. Forty-three of those certifiers are based overseas, and some U.S. agencies also handle foreign certifications.
Industry experts say it is difficult to get many U.S. growers to convert to organic farming, given the lack of subsidies or other financial incentives. Farms cannot sell their crops as organic until they have been free of prohibited chemicals for three years. For organic cattle producers, there also is the high cost of feed — organic grain can be up to three times the cost of conventional. The fear of foreign competition also has been giving farmers pause, and "that concern is now proving true because people have been so reluctant" to go organic, said Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association.
That reluctance has in turn forced food companies to look overseas.
Organic Valley, which sells meat under the label Organic Prairie, started buying beef from Australia last year because there wasn't enough domestic meat available.
The maker of Silk soy milk, White Wave Inc., started importing organic soybeans from China, Brazil and Argentina because of shortages in 2003, said Doug Radi, marketing director for Silk. The majority of the soybeans are still domestic, he said in a statement.
"We are committed to making practical decisions that are consistent with sustainable business principles," he said.
The problem for organic farmers in the Midwest is that processors can buy imported soybeans for less than they obtain them domestically, said Clarkson, the Illinois grain buyer.
West Coast processors are buying Chinese soybeans for $14.50 to $15 a bushel. Midwest soybeans will cost as much as $19 per bushel after shipping costs are figured in, he said.
Because of the foreign competition, Clarkson expects the prices for domestic soybeans to drop by $2 to $4 a bushel, depending on the quality.
"We're saying we would love to buy your beans . . . but we've got to be able to sell them," Clarkson said

Test Tube Foods

2005-10-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a great tool for finding out if your food contains genetically engineered ingredients:

Green Peace Canada's Shopper's Guide

There are also links to the food processing companies websites. Check them out.

The Low Down on Yves Veggie Cuisine

2005-09-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

I personally find Yves products to be unpalatable. However, since their imitation meat products are so popular and widely consumed by many people, including my friends, I have done an investigation into the source of the soy protein used in the making of their products.

Yves webpage/About us/our partners : Yves Products

Here I was provided with the source of their soy – kind of. Yves soy is supplied by SolaeTM which is a worldwide soy supplier.

So who is SolaeTM (I wish that didn’t sound like my name)? What products do they produce? Check out how many soy products this company provides the beans for:

SolaeTM Website/Consumer Benefits/Soy Products:
http://www.solaeliving.com/soyproteinproducts/index.html

Now that’s a lot of soy! Where does it all come from? Well to answer that question I looked more into the company itself. SolaeTM is partnership between Dupont and Bunge Limited. A bit of info on Dupont: Dupont is 66th largest industrial corporation based in the US.

Dupont equips the US military : http://www2.dupont.com/Government/en_US/products_and_services/Defense.html

Oh yeah, and they’re also one of the main producers of agrochemicals and agriculture products (fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, seed):
http://www2.dupont.com/Crop_Production_and_Protection/en_US/#

So that explains how they can pump out so many beans! But, where do they all come from? Well to answer that I looked into the other partner of the Solae company, Bunge Limited.

Who is Bunge? Their website sums them up quite nicely:

“Bunge is a global agribusiness and food company with integrated operations that stretch from the farm field to the retail shelf and circle the globe. We capture value wherever it appears on the food production chain by:
-producing and selling fertilizer to farmers;
-buying, handling and selling oilseeds and grains;
-crushing oilseeds to make meal and oil for the livestock and food processing industries
-producing edible oils and related products for foodservice customers and consumers.
Our market is the world – six billion people and counting. As populations increase and incomes rise, more people are eating better. Bunge is there to supply them with plentiful, healthy and great-tasting food made from the world’s most versatile and popular agricultural products.”

Bunge is South America's leading processor and exporter of soybeans. They are also, by no surprise, their largest supplier of agrochemicals. Here is link to Bunge’s world activities: http://www.bunge.com/activities-by-region.html

Enough said for now. I’ll be researching this more thoroughly.

Where do my soy food products come from?

2005-09-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

I recently conducted an investigation into the sources of the soy food products I comsume. None of this information was provided on any of the company's webpages. I wrote the following letter to 3 producers which supply soy products to my local grocery store:

Dear Sunrise Soya Foods correspondant,
Thank you for supplying good quality organic soy food products to Manitoba. I am a consumer of Sunrise tofu and would like some information about the source farms of the soybeans as well as the locations of the factories.
Thank you for your time,
Marie Turmel

I am posting the responses for everyone to read:

1. Sunrise Soya Foods:

Thank you for your email, I am glad to hear that you enjoy our products.Please let me know by phone or email if you would like me to send you somecoupons and recipe ideas for tofu. Call me toll-free at 1-800-661-2326.In terms of your question below, you will be happy to know that the soybeans are grown locally in Ontario. The soya beans that we use are NotGenetically Modified (Non GMO). In the Pete's Tofu line the soya beans andthe ingredients are all Certified Organic. We have 2 plants/factories, thefirst on in Vancouver, BC (this plant was the first location that Sunrisestarted out and still is used today!). The second location is a newlocation in Toronto.
If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate tocontact me.
Best regards,
Neelum ShahiConsumer Relations OfficerSunrise Soya Foods

2. Soya World a.k.a. SoyNice

Thank you for contacting Soyaworld. The soybeans that are used in our SoNice soy products are 65% grown in Ontario and 35% grown in Quebec.Our production plants are located in Vancouver, Brampton and Ottawa.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any further questions orconcerns.

3. White Wave a.k.a. Silk Soy
Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Until recently all soybeans used in White Wave products were grown on organic farms within the United States. Currently the majority of our soybeans that we purchase remain US grown, however due to a recent organic soybean shortage we have begun purchasing organic soybeans from Brazil.The Brazilian soybeans purchased by White Wave are grown in an area of the country south of the rainforests. No rainforests are damaged in the growth or production of our soybeans.In addition, the company that White Wave contracts with to purchase Brazilian soybeans is constantly monitoring to make certain no slave labor is used on their farms. Three inspection methods are used to check for slave labor including a visit to each farm from a national certification agency, random visits to each farm by local labor authorities and an extensive inspection and interview process of the farm by the buyer certifying that the farm does not use slave labor.The Brazilian soybeans continue to meet White Wave's high quality standards. Just like our American-grown crop, the Brazilian beans are grown with traditional plant breeding and farming practices. To insure that the soybean stocks are pure, the plants are grown in a region isolated from non-organic and genetically modified soybean production. White Wave carefully and continuously monitors our soybean growers directly to ensure that the soybeans have not been genetically altered and are of the very best quality.Highly reputable independent laboratories specializing in genetic identification regularly test White Wave products. Silk® Soymilk has always tested negative for the presence of genetically modified material. We will continue to test Silk and White Wave products to maintain our high quality standards and our product integrity.We hope this information is helpful.
Best regards from the folks at White Wave.

So there you have it. Make your choices.