Click here to read the New York Times article in question. For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page.

Web Note:

OCA agrees with this article that the USDA-NOP is still the best standard we have and we will continue our work to defend and strengthen it. The National Organic Standards Board IS dominated by corporate interests, and OCA and many other groups work continually to combat the problems caused by that. In the meantime, be vigilant, educate yourself , avoid processed foods, and always try to buy local, direct from farmers, and grow your own if possible!

If you’re even remotely interested in food, there’s a very good chance you’ve seen the article that ran in Sunday’s New York Times called “Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized?” We summarized it here, and it has been all over the web for the last few days.

Author Stephanie Strom profiled Michael Potter, the owner of Eden Foods, and one of a shrinking list of people who own large, independent companies producing organic food. She also spent a great deal of time detailing the consolidation of the organic industry (a fact many consumers were introduced to by these popular mind map-like charts from Michigan State University). Strom writes:

 

Bear Naked, Wholesome & Hearty, Kashi: all three and more actually belong to the cereals giant Kellogg. Naked Juice? That would be PepsiCo, of Pepsi and Fritos fame. And behind the pastoral-sounding Walnut Acres, Healthy Valley and Spectrum Organics is none other than Hain Celestial, once affiliated with Heinz, the grand old name in ketchup.