- Pesticides and “natural chemicals” known to cause cancer are allowed
- NON-organic ingredients are labeled as “organic”
- 5% of ingredients are NOT organic (carrageenan, cellulose, and ethylene) and do NOT have to be food (chemical disinfectants)
- United States Dept of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Organic Program (NOP) do NOT inspect food
- Businesses pay “for-profit” certification companies for rights to label food as “USDA organic”
- Organic and NON-organic food is illegally mixed to increase profits (See who is on NOP’s fraudulent LIST HERE)
Organic pesticides are “natural chemicals” in “organic” food. Are these pesticides safer than potent alternatives? Unknown! They are less potent but require more. 50% of approved “natural chemicals” cause cancer. Our bodies destroy cancer cells in small doses but if you overwhelm your body, it can not keep up.
A list of the NON-organic ingredients allowed can be found in the link listed here. Carrageenan used to thicken foods (commonly used in almond and coconut milk) is the same ingredient used to test anti-inflammatory drugs because it causes gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation. (Click on the word for additional information about carrageenan)
The naturally produced hormone, ethylene, is produced as fruits begin to ripen. This hormone will peak when the fruit is ready to ripen and the increased ethylene levels help the fruit ripen by triggering the transformation of a hard, green, unripe fruit into a soft, sweet, ripe fruit that is ready-to-eat. Bananas, apples, and many other fruits rely on the hormone ethylene to ripen.
On the other hand, manmade ethylene that is commercially used to artificially ripen fruit comes from an unnatural source. Manmade ethylene is produced using oil or natural gas. I am forced to question the safety of a product produced from gas that is used to make common household products such as clothing, paint, ink, plastics, tires, medications, diapers, etc. I do not know about you, but I am a skeptic of ethylene’s safety when ingested?
If you are a skeptic of ethylene’s safety as well, you can try to avoid it by avoiding shiny fruits or those with black spots on the skin. As I said before, ethylene is naturally produced by fruits; therefore, you can maximize this to help ripen the fruit. Commercially, they maximize this quality through a process called haystack. Haystack is when they literally pack fruit in hay, which traps the ethylene gas naturally produced by the fruit to help expedite the ripening process.
You can naturally simulate the haystack process by placing an unripe fruit with an apple in a sealed paper bag. Apples emit ethylene gas as they ripen, the paper bag will hold the gas inside, and voila! Your fruit will reach its prime within 1-2 days.
NON-organic ingredients are labeled as “organic” when a company is unable to find a “commercially” available source. Alarmingly, 5% of NONorganic ingredients do NOT have to be food (ie they are chemical disinfectants, etc). Moreover, “USDA organic” certification companies are for-profit and companies pay annual fees to label food “organic”.
Profit based “USDA organic” certification companies determine if a food or business abides by the regulations and business’ pay annual fees to label their food “organic.”
Organic and NON-organic foods are mixed together to increase the amt of “organic” products, maximizing profits for the company. Yes, this is illegal, but it happens. The National Organic Program (NOP) receives approx 200 fraudulent complaints/yr about companies that mix organic with non-organic items.
In conclusion, it is challenging to eat healthy, and even harder to make informed decisions. I am not against organic food but the “USDA” stamp of approval does not hold as much weight as I hoped. The most important part, READ THE LABEL. Do not trust companies to make informed decisions for you. Take the time to search for harmful hidden ingredients before making your next purchase.
Leave a Reply