Ways To Find Truly Organic Foods Versus Mislabeled And Corporatized ‘Organic Alchemy

The following report is by Dr. Joseph Mercola via the Trends Journal (excerpts):

The organic food industry has grown tremendously over the past few decades, but concerns remain about the integrity of organic labeling and certification. In my eye-opening interview with organic industry watchdog Mark Kastel, he discusses the challenges facing organic consumers and farmers, offering insights on how to find truly healthy, ethically produced food.

Kastel co-founded The Cornucopia Institute, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024, and is also executive director and founder of OrganicEye. He notes that while the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act was well-intentioned, its implementation has been problematic:[1]

Congress, in 1990, passed the organic foods production act. It gave the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] the responsibility to protect industry stakeholders, so farmers, ethical business people and eaters, consumers, protect them from unfair competition and fraud. And the legislation itself is really pretty solid and well-intended.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things that happen, it gets handed over to the bureaucrats in Washington and the political appointees of both parties. Something gets lost in translation.

Kastel said

Kastel explains that, initially, the USDA was resistant to regulating organic food, viewing it as just a “marketing scheme.” However, as the U.S. organic food industry has grown to $61.7 billion annually, large agribusiness corporations have bought out many pioneering organic brands.

This has led to efforts to make organic certification less rigorous and more profitable. Globally, the organic industry is now a $205.9 billion industry, projected to reach a worth of $532.72 billion by 2032.

According to Kastel, there are essentially two organic labels consumers encounter:

1. Local, direct-from-farmer organics—These include farmers markets, community-supported agriculture (CSAs) and independent local retailers who source directly from farms they know. Kastel states he’s found “virtually no fraud on that local level.”
2. Large-scale commercial organics—This includes major brands sold in supermarkets and big box stores. These products may come from overseas or large industrial operations with less oversight.

The graphic here, created by Phil Howard, a professor with Michigan State University, illustrates how big business has taken over many smaller organic brands. “It really is almost every major brand, and it’s very deceptive,” Kastel explains.

“You’ll never see General Mills on Cascadian Farms breakfast cereals or Muir Glen tomato products, you’ll see Small Planet Foods. Doesn’t that sound nice? But Dean Foods bought the Horizon label that’s now been sold off a couple of different times … Smuckers is a giant. They own Santa Cruz juices and Knudsen juices.”

Kastel emphasizes the benefits of buying local organic food: “You’re getting food that’s more nutritionally dense, fresher, more flavorful and your dollars stay in your food shed, they’re recirculating … we call this the multiplier effect.”

One of the biggest concerns in the organic industry is the integrity of imported organic products. Kastel explains, “We’ve helped break some major import fraud partnering with the Washington Post at one point. We’ve partnered with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.” He describes two main types of fraud:

1. Outright fraud or “organic alchemy”—Conventional products are relabeled as organic during shipping.
2. Regulatory loopholes—Large industrial farms exploit weak oversight, especially for animal products like dairy.

Kastel is particularly concerned about a practice called “group certification” for imports:

Instead of certifying every farm, instead of inspecting every farm, they will allow a group to band together and when that was conceived, even though it was still illegal when it was conceived, it was for very small landholders doing things like bananas, or chocolate or coffee on a half an acre.

He said

Now, he says, large agribusinesses are using this loophole to avoid proper inspection of their suppliers. Grower/producer groups started out as a way to help small farmers or indigenous groups in developing countries but have morphed to include commercial-scale farms that are escaping USDA oversight.

Only about 2 percent of the farmers involved in these grower/producer groups are being inspected annually, which means the vast majority—98 percent—are not being inspected as frequently, if at all.

“Although almost universally complied with in domestic production, that system has completely broken down for imports,” Kastel said in a news release. “A large percentage of all foreign imports, making up a sizable amount of the organic food Americans eat, are coming from ‘producer groups,’ whose grower-members the USDA has exempted from the requirements to be certified.”

For instance, an investigation revealed the USDA’s Organic Integrity Database lists no certified organic hazelnut growers in Turkey. Yet, the country is the leading importer of organic hazelnuts into the U.S., at prices close to conventionally grown hazelnuts.

“We can grow hazelnuts in the U.S.,” Kastel says, “but they can’t compete with hazelnuts from Turkey, which come from these group certifications, where the farms are not even being inspected, and it’s forcing our Oregon nut growers out of business.”

The key takeaway is that while organic certification is a valuable starting point, truly health-conscious consumers need to dig deeper to understand the full nutritional impact of their food choices.

OrganicEye is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in making healthier food choices and understanding the organic food industry. The website offers a wealth of resources on organic food, farming practices, and industry regulations. Kastel and his team are not selling products; their mission is purely to educate and inform consumers. In addition, Kastel suggests doing the following to find organic, high-quality food:

1. Buy local whenever possible—Farmers markets, CSAs and independent stores that source directly from farms offer the highest integrity.
2. Use online resources—Websites like Local Harvest, Eat Wild and state agriculture department databases can help you locate nearby farms and markets.
3. Check certifier names—Cornucopia Institute plans to publish a list ranking organic certifiers by trustworthiness.
4. Look for 100 percent grass fed and finished meat—Be wary of misleading “grass fed” claims that don’t guarantee full grass finishing.

After OrganicEye backed a federal lawsuit demanding that the USDA discontinue their practice of allowing foreign agribusinesses to inspect their own suppliers (a profound conflict of interest), the industry’s corporate lobby group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA), suggested that, if the USDA loses the lawsuit, they will simply go to Congress and lobby to change the law to legalize “group certification.”

Don’t let that happen! Federal law currently requires every organic farm to be certified and inspected annually by independent, accredited, third-party certifiers—not foreign corporations with a financial interest.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

I am a big proponent of organic foods and still am, but I think we have all noticed that a lot of USDA Organic foods at the stores now don’t look or taste “organic.” USDA Organic was never perfect to begin with as a number of chemicals were still allowed, and other artificial ingredients such as “natural flavors” or “spices,” for example; and other things such as “Non-GMO Verified” is gaslighting and getting pimp-slapped at its finest.

But now since 2020, and these last two years especially, corporations are shrinkflating in different ways. Besides giving less overall product and substance, I have observed organic companies are cutting back in a variety of ways: switching from glass to plastic, including natural flavors and other fake spices, altering the formulas and mixes to water it down or cutback on certain ingredients, picking produce before it’s had time to full mature and grow, using fancy coatings and other chemicals, flat-out lying about the food being organic; and I have seen some brands drop the USDA Organic label all together.

When it comes to imported goods, pay attention to its origin on the packaging, as there are still many European countries that ban most chemicals, so the odds that product or company may be more trustworthy; but that usually is associated with a larger price tag.

For as much as I loathe California, the state has its own organic seal, California Certified Organic Farms (CCOF). Do your own due diligence, but I think those products tend to be a little better if that seal is present, or at least right now…

The WinePress has covered in a number of reports that the organic industry is becoming more and more questionable by the day:

SEE: Be Very Careful What Food You Buy From The Grocery Store. Produce Is Now Becoming Rubberized And Completely Fake

Bill Gates-Funded Apeel Is Now Allowed To Lace Toxic Chemicals On All Food And Still Be Considered “Organic”

US Appellate Court Rules That Hydroponic Crops Qualify For USDA Organic Certification

USDA To Tighten Regulations For Organic Status, But Many Companies Are Lagging Behind

Therefore, use resources such as OrganicEye and Cornucopia to help you when buying at the store; but the best thing you can do is shop with local farmers and farmer’s markets, and build relationships with them; as their food is much better, tastier and cleaner, and less subject to price hikes and inflation. For example, I have been shopping with a trusted farmer about an hour from where I live, and he sells me raw milk at $6 a gallon, which is a LOT cheaper than conventional milk at the stores in many cases these days; and other things such as colostrum for only $4 a quart – which is a STEAL if you have ever gone shopping at these farms.

My point is, shop around and network with them and it will be well worth it!

3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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