OT: Wal-Mart Charged with Selling Nonorganic Food as Organic

[Guest guest]

Wal-Mart Charged with Selling Nonorganic Food as Organic

_http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3364.cfm_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3364.cfm)

Group Asks USDA to Fully Investigate Organic Product Misrepresentation

Cornucopia, WI: The Cornucopia Institute, the nation’s most aggressive

organic farming watchdog, has filed a formal legal complaint with the USDA

asking

them to investigate allegations of illegal “organic†food distribution by

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Cornucopia has documented cases of nonorganic food

products being sold as organic in Wal-Mart’s grocery departments.

“We first noticed that Wal-Mart was using in-store signage to misidentify

conventional, nonorganic food as organic in their upscale-market test store in

Plano, Texas,†said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute. Subsequently,

Cornucopia staff visited a number of other Wal-Mart stores in the Midwest and

documented similar improprieties in both produce and dairy sections.

Cornucopia notified Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott in a letter on September 13,

2006 alerting the company to the problem and asking that it address and

correct the situation on an immediate basis. But the same product

misrepresentations were again observed weeks later, throughout October, at

separate Wal-Mart

stores in other states.

“This is disturbing and a serious problem,†Kastel said. “Organic farmers

adopt and follow a rigorous range of management practices, with audit trails,

to ensure that the food they sell to processors and retailers is organic and

produced in accordance with federal organic regulations. Consumers, who are

paying premium prices in the marketplace for organic food, deserve to get what

they are paying for.â€

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart announced a sweeping organic foods initiative

and declared that they would greatly increase the number of organic offerings

for sale in their stores—at dramatically lower prices than the competition.

The move by the giant retailer has been under close scrutiny from members of

the organic community seeking to assess what impact Wal-Mart’s decision will

have on organic food and farming concerns.

A number of other organic food retailers throughout the country, including

Whole Foods Markets and many of the nations member-owned grocery cooperatives,

have gone to the effort to become certified organic in terms of the handling

of their products and have invested heavily in staff training to help them

understand organic food production and sale concerns.

“Our management and our employees know what organic means,†said Lindy

Bannister, General Manager at The Wedge Cooperative in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“

If Wal-Mart intends to get into organics, they can’t be allowed to

misidentify

‘natural’ foods as organic to unsuspecting consumers.†The Wedge, the

largest single store member-owned food cooperative in the nation, was one of

the

first retailers to go through the USDA organic certification process.

“One can question whether Wal-Mart has the management and staff expertise

necessary to fully understand organics and the marketing requirements essential

to selling organic food,†observed Kastel. “At this point, it seems they

are attracted by the profits generated from the booming organic food sector but

are not fully invested in organic integrity. Given their size, market power,

and market clout, this is very troubling.â€

Cornucopia’s complaint asks the USDA to fully investigate the allegations of

organic food misrepresentation. The farm policy organization has indicated

that they will share their evidence, including photographs and notes, with the

agency’s investigators. Fines of up to $10,000 per violation for proven

incidents of organic food misrepresentation are provided for in federal organic

regulations.

This past September, The Cornucopia Institute also accused Wal-Mart of

cheapening the value of the organic label by sourcing products from

industrial-scale factory-farms and Third World countries, such as China.

The Institute released a white paper, Wal-Mart Rolls Out Organic Products—

Market Expansion or Market Delusion?, that made the argument that Wal-Mart is

poised to drive down the price of organic food in the marketplace by inventing

a “new†organic—food from corporate agribusiness, factory-farms, and

cheap

imports of questionable quality.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Cornucopia Institute's White Paper, Wal-Mart Rolls Out

Organic Products—Market Expansion or Market Delusion?, along with a photo

gallery containing images of some of the organic items now being offered for

sale

at Wal-Mart stores, can be found on the organization's web page at

http://www.cornucopia.org as can Cornucopia's legal complaint filed with the

USDA

regarding Wal-Mart's alleged organic product misrepresentation.

High-resolution files of these photographs and/or a head shot of Mr. Kastel

are available electronically upon request.

The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for

the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy and economic

development our goal is to empower farmers both politically and through

marketplace initiatives. The Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate

watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming

methods

and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit.