Connecting at the Table shares the thoughts and work of Jennifer Hall’s experiences with food in connecting with people, places and even pets. Moreover the importance that our food choices be ones that consider their impacts on these same people, places and pets.
nice looking blog. i hope the pups are feeling better soon.
Greetings Jennifer Hall,
I would like to interview you for a research paper I”m doing on green marketing from a consumer/NOS board member stand point. Please, e-mail me back as soon as possible. I’d greatly appreciate it!
Sorry about sending this letter this way but I could not find an e-mail address for you at NSOB. My home address and phone number are in the e-mail sent to Ms. Miedema at Stahlbush Island Farms.
Dear Ms Hall and Ms. Miedema,
I am writing to the two of you in your capacity as NSOB members for Consumer/Public Interest. As someone who is very concerned about how we eat and what we do to our home planet I am concerned with the validity of the USDA Organic label. Apparently when I purchase, and have purchased, “USDA Organic” labeled food certified by the California Certified Organic Farmers, the food may not be meeting the actual legal standards. I am referring you to the following article in the Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/288/story/1501772.html. To the best of my ability to verify the contents of the article, it is accurate and unbiased.
My concerns are many fold. Can a certifier unilaterally certify something as USDA Organic without meeting the standards as CCOF has done and, if so, what artificial pesticides can be “accidentally” used with the grower still allowed to be called “USDA Organic?) Can a producer use the USDA Organic label knowing they do not meet the standards as Earthbound and Driscoll have done? Can a marketer sell food as USDA Organic knowing it is not as New Seasons has done?
As a consumer of organic goods, I want to know that when I spend my money on USDA Organic food it at least meets the minimum legal standards. I pay extra for the USDA Organic because I want to buy organic foods and support earth friendly food production. I am angered by finding out that for years I have been paying organic food prices for sub-standard food.
This mislabeling also affects my neighbors in the Pacific Northwest, such as Stahlbush Island Farms and other local organic farms. Is it fair for a company such as Stahlbush to have to compete with a product that does not meet the same standards – though it’s label says it does?
As a consumer price is important and I have purchased frozen organic fruit from farmers in California as well as Stahlbush based upon price. Had I known the food did not meet USDA standards, I would not have bought the California brand.
I have no fault with the fact that companies such as Earthbound allowed themselves to be fooled. They are good companies that are trying to find a middle ground between agribusiness and farming, and they treat their employees well. But that does not excuse them forcing consumers like us to take the financial brunt of their mistake.
As the two of you are listed as the NSOB members for Consumer/Public Interest and are Northwest neighbors, I am asking for you to take a look at how CCOF handled the California Liquid Fertilizer fiasco and take appropriate action to make consumers aware of what happened and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Thank you for your time and efforts on our behalf.
Sincerely,
Rich Wallick