RE:organic??

July 18, 2003

Natalie wrote: >>The point is,don't buy the silly " organic " tostitos, we all

know that the land it is grown in is still polluted from the last ten years

of pesticide, the

corn is still " modified " , not to mention the processing and

preservatives <<

I am new to this whole area and would like some advice from the more

experienced members. How you know what is really organic and what isn't?? I

thought if it was " Certified Organic " it had to meet certain standards. I am

in Ontario and a large grocery store chain here has recently developed a

line of organic products. In general, they have expanded the organic

products they carry and include a variety of brands. However, the " store

brand organics " are cheaper. Is this because they are inferior and maybe not

" really' organic??

How do you know??

Lisa

July 20, 2003

Lisa, imho, I would research the " organic " standards in your area for the

products you are considering. I'm sure the Canadian govt. has information

available on the web that will answer your questions. I also recommend calling

the manufacturing company. Standards vary. I also suggest you look into

whether or not the organics are veganic. That's a whole nutha' concern we're

facing down here.

Lucy

Lisa Tigani <kwcanine wrote:

Natalie wrote: >>The point is,don't buy the silly " organic " tostitos, we all

know that the land it is grown in is still polluted from the last ten years

of pesticide, the

corn is still " modified " , not to mention the processing and

preservatives <<

I am new to this whole area and would like some advice from the more

experienced members. How you know what is really organic and what isn't?? I

thought if it was " Certified Organic " it had to meet certain standards. I am

in Ontario and a large grocery store chain here has recently developed a

line of organic products. In general, they have expanded the organic

products they carry and include a variety of brands. However, the " store

brand organics " are cheaper. Is this because they are inferior and maybe not

" really' organic??

How do you know??

Lisa

For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at

http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to

http://www.vrg.org/family.

July 23, 2003

It's my understanding that " Certified Organic " products in Canada are

strictly regulated and must pass a certification process. The certifying

body should have their symbol on the product. I've noticed a lot of things

certified by QAI and looked up their standards on the internet last year.

They seemed to be pretty stringent about having no pesticides etc. used on

the fields for something like 6 years before they could be certified. Also,

by definiation, they would not certify anything genetically engineered.

I recently read that there are no restrictions in my province (B.C.) on the

casual use of the word " organic " on packaging...really the word can mean a

lot of things...like it's made of carbon compounds (hehe:) So it can say

" Organic whatever " and not be " Certified Organic " .

So I'd say make sure it's certified by an independant body and look up the

certifying body on the internet to find out what their prerequesites for

certification are if you are worried about it.

There is another issue however that leads to the lower pricing of big store

" Certified Organic " products. This is the mass production and large scale

marketing that they are able to do. They aren't using your local organic

farmer to get their ingredients from. Some people prefer to buy local

produce and products from smaller scale local businesses. This way you are

closer to the actual producer and not encouraging food to be transported

huge distances relying on fossil fuels.

Hope that helps,

Melanie