Congress Passes Bill to Weaken Organic Standards

Last week (October 26), amid the hubbub of the Miers withdraw, the 2000^th soldier killed in Iraq, and the Libby indictment, Congress met quietly to call a yea/nay vote on the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill (sponsored by Henry Bonilla, a Rep. from Texas).

The yeas won.

This was the bill I mentioned in my recent post Smelly Networks and the Threat to Organics. Organics is a booming business...



Note the increase in sales of prepared foods (beverages, snacks, etc.) in the last decade, compared to the relatively benign growth of produce. There's money to be made in "USDA Organic" cookies - you can bet your organic soymilk there is.
It appears that Congress caved to the pressure of major food producers (Smucker's, Dean Foods, Kraft, etc.). It appears that Congress did not cave to the pressure of 300,000 letters sent by concerned citizens alarmed over the increasing propagation of worthless standards.

The Bill will:

• Allow a wider use of synthetic ingredients in foods sold under the "organic" label.
  
• Allow dairy cows to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production.
  
• Give the USDA liberal discretion in granting "emergency exemptions" to industry to use chemical synthetics in place of natural ingredients when the natural ingredients aren't readily available or are too expensive.

From The Environmental Working Group's enviroblog:

"The move has been widely derided as a loophole for companies that want part of the annual $11 billion organics, the fastest growing segment of the food industry ... without the added cost of adhering to stringent organic standards."

If you'd like to read the Bill, it's available in its entirety from the Library of Congress' online legislative info site, Thomas. Just go to Thomas and enter bill number H.R. 2744 in the search box.

The Organic Consumers Association has a good summary:
Congress Rams Through OTA Sneak Attack on Organic Standards Despite Massive Consumer Opposition

My response to this unfortunate set of events? I won't expect packaged goods labeled with the USDA's organic seal to be all that organic. (And I'll feel like a real chump paying a premium for them.)

Take a Walk, 7

There's a new-hire across the hall, 3 cubicles down and 4 to the left. Five minutes.
~~~~~~Photo: Scene from Playtime, a film by Jacques Tati, 1967, France - from Terri Boake's University of Waterloo site.

Take a Walk, 6

Before there aren't any leaves left. Five minutes.
~~~~~~Photo: Homegrown

Take a Walk, 5

Brush and floss, 10 minutes. Walk, 5 minutes.
~~~~~~Photo: Wild Ocean Adventures

Take a Walk, 4

It stopped raining. Five minutes.
~~~~~~Photo: Homegrown

Take a Walk, 3

Five minutes. Once around the block. Hold your breath.
~~~~~~Photo: Declan McCullagh

Leftovers

Click for larger.
The plastic you see is a degradable film that Farmer Pete uses as mulch. It warms the soil, retains moisture, and provides chemical-free weed control.

When "Free-Range" is not "Free-Range"

From the Guardian this morning:

"Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, has announced further emergency measures to the House of Commons to control the spread of avian flu to Britain. She said the government was seriously considering ordering free range poultry farmers to lock their chickens indoors to avoid infection from wild migrating birds. It is unclear whether farmers who are forced to shut their hens and chickens indoors will be able to keep their free range status."

Take a Walk, 2

Five minutes. That's all. I promise.
~~~~~~Photo: Bump's Oxford Sights

To Cull

Speaking of prophylactic measures, I'm noting a generous use of some form of the verb "to cull" in news stories that discuss avian flu. Not sure what the word meant, especially when used in phrases such as "humanely culled", I looked it up:

cull
verb
1. To pick out from others; select.
2. To gather; collect.
3. To remove rejected members or parts from (a herd, for example).

I didn't think it had anything to do with extinguishing life. But when a bird is found dead, and it's discovered to have met its demise via H5N1, and the rest of the flock is "humanely culled", I conclude they weren't just gathered up and moved to safer ground. "Cull" seems to have taken on euphemistic meaning.

In fact, Wikipedia reports that as of October 20, "more than 120 million birds have died from infection or been culled."

That's a lot of birds. That has to put a dent in global poultry production, not to mention devastating the livelihood of indigenous Asian poultry farmers. And for the bird, well, it seems like such a drastic measure.

I'm concerned about the possible outbreak of a bird flu pandemic. But I'm beginning to recognize the cost of prophylaxis.

~~~~~~Photo of a rooster, taken October 21, 2005 in Balikesir, Turkey. Compliments of Getty Images

Take a Walk, 1

Five minutes.
~~~~~~Photo: 35 Degrees

Prophylaxis

I wonder if chicken-for-dinner tastes different in Russia than in the US. Then, I wonder if this prophylactic measure to protect a flock from bird flu isn't exclusively a Russian treatment, but goes on worldwide. I don't know. I do know my tastes are favoring "free range" more and more every day.

Photo and caption from Abaca Press:

"Disinfection of the room with iodine-containing reagents is underway in 'Kineshemskaya' poultry farm in the course of prophylactic measures against bird flu in the Ivanovo region, Russia, on October 21, 2005."
- Photo by Vladimir Smirnov

Grilled Chicken

With warm evenings waning and darkness falling before dinner prep revs up, this may very well be the last fowl I'll have grilled outdoors this year. But she grilled up fine. Nice and fine. And like Xixo in The Gods Must Be Crazy, I thanked her for offering her life for my dinner.

I don't live near a poultry farm where I can attest my chicken gobbled organic feed and roamed free to peck organic grubs. (Why do radio talk shows book guests who advocate having a chat with the farmer who raised the chicken or eggs you're about to buy? To make sure they're fresh and wholesome? Where do these people live?) Mostly, I have at my disposal the local Perdue-stocked supermarket. Recently, they've begun selling a few Bell & Evans birds, which, although they're not "free-range" or organic, are a step up from Perdue who refuse to divulge their "proprietary poultry feed". Personally, I'm a little put off by the thought of my chicken being fed chicken parts. Oh, for a little farmer-chat.

They're only selling these chickens whole right now. And I grill them in parts, which made me a fast study in the art of cutting up a chicken. GourmetSleuth.com helped a lot. I'm still getting the wingcut down, but the product of a home-cut is so superior (matched parts, attached skin) and cost-efficient that I may do this all the time.

Ingredients

One 3-4 lb. whole chicken, cut up

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove

Spice mixture (Optional, or to your preference):

1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. ground onion
1/2 tsp. ground garlic
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or table salt)
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. turmeric

~~~~~~1   Preheat grill.

Note: I use an indirect cooking method on my gas grill. This involves turning off any burners directly under the chicken, and setting to low the remaining outboard burners. Direct heat is not recommended since it singes the exterior before the inside thoroughly cooks.

2   Rinse chicken with cold water and pat dry. Cut into at least 5 pieces: 2 wings, 2 leg-thighs, 1 breast.

Note: GourmetSleuth.com instructs how to separate the leg from the thigh and the whole breast into 2 sides, giving 8 parts to grill, instead of 5. (I toss the back away.) The only recommendation I'd make is to keep the breast in one piece - it will hold moisture and be flavored by the breastbone. To the right are my 5 pieces, oiled and rubbed. Click for larger.

3   Mince or press garlic into oil. Rub chicken parts with garlic oil.

4   Combine spices in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture onto oiled chicken parts.

5   Grill all pieces for 30 minutes, then turn. Grill for another 30 minutes, then remove the breast (1 hour total). Grill remaining parts for another 30 minutes (1.5 hours total). As pieces are done, move to a serving plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. You may want to place in a very low oven (no more than 100ºF) until ready to serve.

My grill has a thermostat. So I can tell you that these times are based on a temperature no higher than about 310ºF.

Note: The breast will continue to cook after its removed from the grill. It's important to keep it covered and away from drafts for at least 30 minutes - the time it takes for the darker meat to finish.

Enjoy!

A Germ, An Eating Disorder

I saw a woman yesterday whose eating disorder had left its imprint on her temples, literally. There were carved out hollows where her temples would have been. At her age, much of this bone loss is probably irreplaceable.

Eating disorders have complex roots. Women who starve themselves, or who binge and purge, don't do it solely to acquire the lithe figure of a celebrity. There are myriad psychological and biochemical forces that lead to this behavior.

Now, there's one more:

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia may have an autoimmune component.
(Published in the October 11 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. You can view the abstract here.)

Researchers in Sweden found unusual levels of autoantibodies (antibodies that attack the body's own cells instead of fighting invading organisms) in subjects with eating disorders. The autoantibodies were attacking a small protein (α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone) that operates in the nervous system to control appetite. It's also involved in the stress response.

Why were these autoantibodies present?
The authors speculated that some microorganism, a bacteria or virus, may be to blame. Microorganisms are known to protect themselves from attack by camouflaging to look like one of our body's proteins. Our immune system can sometimes see through their costume, attacking both the real protein along with the disguised germ.

Their work sheds light on the causes of other psychiatric disorders, notably obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It also paves a way for new therapies. That's good news for younger sufferers, but people past their mid-thirties whose bone integrity has been compromised by an eating disorder aren't likely to experience a skeletal windfall.

H5N1 Bird Flu Strain Now in Turkey

I'm surprised at the number of people who think this year's flu shot will protect them from the more virulent strain making headlines as a probable agent for the bird flu pandemic.

As of October 13, 2005, 7:25 am EDT, no vaccine exists that will protect against the reported bird flu. It will take several months to develop an effective vaccine - which can begin only after the virus rears its ugly RNA.

So why is a UK news outlet reporting:

European health chiefs say everyone should be given a flu vaccine to prevent a possible bird flu pandemic.

EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said he advised "the increase of vaccination among the risk population for the seasonal flu". He said this was part of their plan to deal with a potential or possible pandemic.

Oh, no, CNN is reporting it too. Maybe Mr. Kyprianou is just calling for a mass vaccination right now as a dry run. Seems like a costly way to test your bird flu preparedness plan to me.

Organic Milk, Kind of

I just finished reading Ruby's link about Horizon's somewhat-organic "organic" milk. Thank you, Ruby.

I'm not averse to companies making an effort to produce a cleaner product. Why should I be? If Horizon wants to abstain from pumping their dairy cows with hormones and antibiotics, more power to them. I'll even go along with them blasting that fact to sell more product.

What I won't go along with is their use of the term "organic". If "organic" means allowing cows to pasture, and Horizon doesn't allow their cows to pasture, then the milk doesn't qualify as "organic". Simple.

It's a crime when a company reaps profit from bastardization of the term. I see it as a problem of enforcement, which in turn is a problem of big business lobbying.

From the Salon.com article:

... the USDA has been lax in enforcing current organic standards, which remain vague, and in creating strict new ones. ... Given the USDA's failures, confinement dairies like Horizon continue to profit at the expense of the nation's small, independent dairies -- ones that do follow organic principles and produce the healthiest milk possible for people, cows and the environment.

One solution, raised by my colleague, is for an independent institution to establish strict standards for "organic" and have purveyors of true organic product pay a nominal fee for their seal. It's disappointing we can't rely on government and our taxes to provide this assurance.

Updates

• In April of this year the above Salon article was posted. It stated that The Cornucopia Institute had filed three formal complaints with the USDA alleging the agency was lax in its enforcement of regulation at Horizon's dairy operations. It threatened to sue the agency for failure to address those issues.
  
• On August 16 of this year, the National Organics Standards Board (a USDA advisory board), with input from the Cornucopia Institute, passed a guidance document that closed loopholes and created strict requirements for organic dairy farmers. (It would have cost Horizon big bucks to comply.)
  
• On August 16 of this year (the same day!), the USDA without warning rejected the NOSB's recommendation. Says Ed Loyd, press secretary to the Secretary of Agriculture:

  "We don’t know whether there is need for additional rule making or for guidance to the industry."

• On September 13 of this year, John Mackey, chairman of Whole Foods Market, disturbed by the lack of USDA regulation, decided to enlist his own standards:

  "We will clearly label products that are not animal compassionate so our customers can be fully informed about their practices. We don’t want to see organic standards diluted down to where they don’t mean what consumers think it means."

Starbucks and Fair Trade

I just came upon Starbucks' Fair Trade Certified coffee alternative via the Dirty Greek. Since I don't patronize the place, I didn't know.

It looks like Starbucks, under pressure from The Responsible Consumer ¹, mounted an offensive by offering a fair trade bean. From Starbucks' press release (pdf):

Whole-bean Fair Trade Certified coffee is available for purchase in our North American company operated stores. In addition, Fair Trade Certified coffee has been promoted by Starbucks as a brewed "Coffee of the Week" and can be brewed by coffee press during store hours upon customer request.

My first response was, "If they offer a Fair Trade Certified coffee, does that imply that all their other coffee was procured under Unfair Trade practices?" What logical thinker wouldn't conclude this?

They cut this thinking off at the pass by claiming they now pay "fair prices for all of our coffee." I see. So there is Fair Trade Certified Coffee, Unfair Trade Procured Coffee, and Starbucks' version: Fair Trade-like Coffee.

It would seem to me that if there is a certification available for Fair Trade, Starbucks, having already paid their Fair Trade dues, would clamor for it. Odd.

Anyway, the Dirty Greek makes reference to a Starbucks Challenge being waged by City Hippy: Visit your local Starbucks, ask for a cup of Fair Trade coffee, and report your results to City Hippy, or blog it.
~~~~~~
¹ In March 2003, Starbucks was accused of buying coffee and chocolate produced under exploitative labor conditions. Ronnie Cummins, national director of the OCA: "and in the case of cocoa plantations in Africa, workers [were] actually slaves."

Smelly Networks and the Threat to Organics

I knew there was some malodorous ownership of organics going on, but I had no idea it was this extensive. Some of my favorite products - Arrowhead Mills flours and grains, Muir Glen canned tomatoes, Silk soy milk, Stonyfield Farms yogurt - are owned by ExxonMobile, Phillip Morris, and Walmart! Ugh.

Here's a visual. ¹ (Click for larger.)


In this graphic, which is not at all inclusive, you can see, for example, that the blue bubble, Hain, owns many green-bubble organic offshoots. A few of Hain's principle stockholders are ExxonMobile, Phillip Morris, Citigroup, Pfizer, Merck, etc.

Here are some details:

• Corporate Takeover of the "Organic" Food Market
  
• Who owns organic/natural foods companies?

I can't blame big industry for wanting to get involved in the growing multi-billion dollar organics industry, especially when it directly competes with their established brands. But when big business, with bigbucks, and big pools of lobbyists start to throw their weight around, things like this happen:

The USDA and industry lobbyists are (right now!) pushing a bill in Congress to lower organic standards. The rider to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill would allow undisclosed synthetic ingredients in organic foods, and most disturbingly, would shift control over organic standards away from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and into the hands of the federal government (who in the past have recommended that genetically modified foods, irradiated foods, and foods containing previously banned pesticides, hormones and other drugs fall under the umbrella of "organic".)

If you're interested in sending a letter to your representatives, the Organic Consumers Association has made it easy:

Send a Letter!
~~~~~~¹ Thanks to Phil Howard from The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, the Organic Consumers Association, and Slashfood.

UPC Look Up

While I'm talking about codes...
(Go to my PLU post for produce codes.)

A UPC is a Universal Product Code, or bar code. It consists (usually) of 12 digits. The first digit, the one that often sits alone to the left of the actual bar code, is called the number system character. Here is the code for number system characters 0 through 9:

0     Manufacturer ID Number
1     Reserved
2     Random-weight Items (fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.)
3     Pharmaceuticals or Healthcare Products
4     In-store Marking for Retailers
5     Coupons
6     Manufacturer ID Number
7     Manufacturer ID Number
8     Reserved
9     Reserved

The next 5 digits (usually underneath the bar code) represent the manufacturer's ID number, the following 5 digits represent the item code or product ID number within that manufacturer. And the last digit is just a check digit used for error detection.

You can look up a UPC here:

Go to upcdatabase.com and click "Look Up" in the left-hand column.

Can you tell what product's UPC is shown at the beginning of this post? How about the product to the right (I swear I keep these guys in business)?

How to Spot Organic or Genetically Modified Produce

Look at its PLU (Price Look Up) code. It's usually printed on a sticker stuck to the fruit, hanging from a twist-tie that wraps a bunch of greens, etc.

Conventional produce is labeled with a 4-digit number, such as #4166 on the onion I've shown. Organic produce is prefixed with the number 9. If this onion was organic, its PLU would read #94166. Genetically modified (GM) produce is prefixed with the number 8, e.g. #84166 for a GM onion.

Growers aren't required to label GM produce as such. There was a time they thought people would pay more for it, but lately, they've decided not to divulge. If you do see any 8-prefixed fruits or vegetables, I'd love for you to note them in comments. I haven't seen any.

However! If produce is prefixed with a 9, for organic, you can be sure it wasn't genetically modified.

Just for fun, here's a site where you can enter the PLU of any item of produce and receive back its data. Try it! (A few innocuous questions will get you through to the site.)

International Federation for Produce Coding
________

Bird Flu 2005 and the 1918 Pandemic

Working in healthcare, you can't avoid discussion of the hot health topics. So I'm revisiting my Bird Flu post because there's a piece of new information garnered from this week's story on the 1918 flu pandemic.

The news - Scientists reconstructed the Spanish flu virus that was responsible for a highly lethal pandemic in 1918:

Researchers Reconstruct 1918 Virus

The particle of significance I derived from their work - The virus mutated to become infectious to humans without the assistance of a common human flu virus.

It was previously thought that the same human would have to become infected with both a bird flu virus and a human flu virus. Those virus strains would have to meet in the same cell, interact, and produce a new strain with the deadliness of the bird flu virus, and the transmissibility of the human flu virus. This is no longer the case. The World Health Organization (WHO) will have to update their bird flu fact sheets.

This raises the notion that a pandemic strain could develop easier and with less warning than previously thought.

One other bit of info I gleaned from all the 1918 pandemic talk - it infected young adults more virulently than it did children or the aged. So if there does become available a vaccine, we may have to reconsider our current recommendation of vaccinating children and seniors first.

Farmers' Market Tour

Below is a photo tour of the Farmers' Market where I'm fortunate to buy lots of the produce you see on my posts. (Click pics for larger. My apologies to those without a broadband connection.)

Last weekend I drove up to a sea of pumpkins.


Pumpkins in both directions, as far as my lens could focus.


Not all pumpkins are pumpkin-colored, I found.


Nor are all pumpkins pumpkin-shaped. I think these are called turban squash.

Click here to view the rest of the (photo heavy) tour.
Here's a hodgepodge. The one in the lower right with the bumps like warts is called a warty squash. And the lovely green one with the long slender middle is called a gooseneck squash.


More goosenecks. These babies are positively animated.


Nor are all pumpkins big. These you could fit in your palm.


The orange ones, second to the left, are called Red Kuri squash. Around here we call them sweet potato squash. I use them in my Squash Squares recipe in place of butternut squash.


Let's go inside...

Here are end-of-season hot peppers. The red jalapenos in the front have been on the vine a while, you can see their woody streaks. Nonetheless, they're so fresh and potent! (The dark green ones in the lower left are called Poblano's. They're the mildest of this lot, and my favorite. They're the basis of the dried Ancho Chile powder you can buy in just about any grocery store.)


Apples. For apple pie :) Most are local, picked daily. This picture doesn't do them justice. I guess this means another trip. Woe.


He sells his squash inside too. At the end of the season he has so many he gives them away. You can see the building in this pic. It's really just a large wooden shack. It leaks when it rains, smells of hay, and is full of bees when peaches are in season. He uses giant fans to blow them off the fruit. I love this place.


Farmer P never lets you forget what's in season. (He probably used a tractor to lift this.)


Here's a sense of perspective. It's really not that big of a building. When I started going there 10 years ago, it was just a roadside stand.


Corn is waning. It gets starchy at the end of its season. This pile of corn would have been sold out by now if it was August or September. Back then, if people spied someone lugging a lumpy burlap sack in from the fields, they'd swarm this table faster than the bees swarmed the peaches.


Tomatoes are also waning, but unlike corn they just seem to get better as the season wears.


I'll leave you with one last image of Farmer P's sustainable farming handiwork.


Thank you Farmer P.

Chimp Quits Smoking

Smoking China Chimp Kicks Habit

If scientists could nail down the real reason why Ai Ai kicked the habit, they'd amass a personal fortune. (Why don't public health officials clamor for this research? It would save a bundle in healthcare costs - smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US.)

So, what was it?

Was it the morning walks?
Pop music on a walkman?
Fried dishes and dumplings at every meal, on top of bananas, rice and milk?

Is there another clue in the following story?

Frustrated Chimp Takes Up Smoking

Seems Feili took up the habit to quell a growing shrewishness. I'm not sure what to gather from this ... don't become a shrew?