Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Wal-Mart Sells Non-Organic Food as Organic

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Wal-Mart Charged With Selling Non-Organic Food as

" Organic "

By CounterPunch News Service

 

http://www.counterpunch.org/organic11162006.html

 

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

multiple 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. "

 

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. "

 

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 (available at

www.cornucopia.org).

 

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 www.cornucopia.org as can

Cornucopia's legal complaint filed with the USDA

regarding Wal-Mart's alleged organic product

misrepresentation.

 

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.

 

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