Some Organic Farms Have Been Accidentally Using Spiked Fertilizers For Years
California Liquid Fertilizer has been spiking its fertilizer with ammonium sulfate for the last several years, affecting the organic status of many farms, including organic behemoth Earthbound Farms.
It's a pretty epic story. The revelation that the fertilizer merchant (feel free to suggest better terms in the comments) was using non-kosher ingredients came from a former employee, who alleged that the company has been using ammonium sulfate since 1999. Inspectors confirmed the taint in 2005, even intercepting train cars of ammonium sulfate, but the California government didn't take action for several months, as the E. Coli in spinach outbreak consumed attention. In 2007, another organic fertilizer pulled its fertilizer, and another similar announcement is apparently coming soon.
Synthetic fertilizers were substituted because they cost less than 5% of the price of organic fertilizers. Yes, substituting a cheap ingredient for the more expensive, labeled ingredient usually goes over well.
Organic Farms Unknowingly Used A Synthetic Fertilizer [Sacramento Bee]
(Photo: What Rhymes with Nicole)
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Comments:
Manure Hawkers? Crap Distributors? Shit Dispersers?
This makes me feel good in a schadenfreude kind of way.
It's wrong, very wrong, but man it's gotta be rough for the folks who have really been trying to eat organically and end up consuming the bad stuff anyway at a higher cost.
@weakdome: Indeed. How many inspectors does it take to confirm a taint? What's the next step after a taint is confirmed? Is it blessed somehow; a matrimony of the taints?
So the $10 extra you paid for all those veggies SURE WENT A LONG WAY! GG!
I understand that "kosher" has come to mean "acceptable" or "following the rules" in common parlance, but when talking about food, kosher denotes a specific category of acceptable (foods prepared according to Jewish dietary laws) which is, I think, not what Alex means.
Are the ingredients non-kosher, or just non-organic? I know it seems pedantic, but I'm genuinely wondering.
Do you feel snarky when people paying for superpremium unleaded gasoline wind up with leaded/watered down?
Is it funny that people were defrauded? Some people avoid certain substances because they are allergic to them, or because they simply don't want to ingest them. If something is labeled to NOT contain something and it actually DOES, that's not cool.
I was referring to the ingredients in the fertilizer, not food, so I meant the former meaning. Although I think the article said the fertilizer is normally made from "fish product," so if it's shellfish, then the fertilizer is also non-Kosher.
Also, I love pedantry, so nitpick away!
@pollyannacowgirl: I think the comedy is there because a lot of organic-o-philes are just so damned smug about it. I'm better than you because blah blah blah.
I just dig the taste of mega-pasturized organic milk and a big fan of chicken eggs with actual egg flavor. I really couldn't taste a difference with fruits and veggies so I stopped paying the organic premium on those.
And I don't think I'm better than anyone else for it.
Clearly I'm better than everyone else due to my taste in music.
@CorporateTool: I hate to agree, but I do.
I use the term "kosher" all the time in conversation to mean "allowed" or "OK" or whatever, but in a story all about food, it could be confusing to....someone?
@pollyannacowgirl: I don't feel the same schadenfreude, but I think a lot of people felt that the people paying premiums for organics were being taken for a ride. To have it confirmed is an "ouch... lol" moment.
@Alex Chasick: Thanks Alex, although if the fertilizer is fish-based, that doesn't render the vegetable unkosher, as long as you don't eat the actually fertilizer (which you should be washing off anyway).
@Applekid: I can't bring myself to pay extra for the milk, but you are dead on with the organic/premium eggs being quite a bit better.
Why does it matter if a fertilizer is organic or not? It's the nitrogen from it the soil needs, not extra carbon.
@apronk: I started doing the milk because it lasts a month longer (you don't find normal ultrapasteurized milk) I like the eggs better. Also we don't eat non organic pork because pigs are treated horribly. We don't make a big deal about it, if someone serves pork we just don't eat it, we don't try to convert or anything. Not eating bacon and sausage anymore was one of the hardest things to do until I found the turkey equivalent. less fatty with a similar taste!
Poo peddlar?
@lannister80: To those of us who keep kosher.
In the past year a type of "pre-washed" lettuce lost its kosher certification as it had bugs in the lettuce (rendering it unkosher unless you re-washed it).
@lannister80: It's confusing to me - are organic foods marketed to Jews that follow kosher guidelines? Or does organic have nothing to with kosher, and it was just being used as slang? Curious minds with too much time on their hands want to know...
@CorporateTool: I don't know about that - I know you can't use the same plate for meat and dairy, even if you wash them in between, so wouldn't the food coming into contact with and absorbing nonkosher products render it nonkosher?
@weakdome: What inspector goes around confirming taints? Stay away from mine please, it is very sensitive.
@VegasDarling: Sounds like, in context of this article, it was being used to denote "not-ok" ingredients, rather than ones that were or were not actually "kosher".
I'm not sure how organic foods, meat and eggs especially fare with kosher standards.
@pollyannacowgirl: I made that statement in regards to the rich organic-peoples of America.
It wasn't intended for those who actually physically suffer as a direct result of the ammonium sulfate.
Should I have clarified that? Sorry for not running the sensitivity checker in my web browser before I posted.
I guess I find humor where I shouldn't sometimes. At least I'm not the only one.
@VegasDarling: Organic and kosher have no connection. For example, there are many kosher foods that are not organic (e.g. gefilte fish).
Organic foods are typically marketed towards yuppy trash (e.g. me), although, it doesn't work on all yuppies (e.g. me).
@snowburnt: If only people were more like you :D One of the switches my wife and I made was to go with organic and free range chicken eggs, which of course cost a TON more than the cheapie store ones.
This makes me mad. I buy Earthbound Farms products. I don't want chemicals in my food nor do I want to add to the chemicals in the environment. I'm sure they didn't discount the fertilizer to the growers, either. I feel bad for the farmers who were relying on the honesty of their sellers in stating the fertilizer was organic. This shows the flaw in enforcing organic standards in the US>
@winstonthorne: Three. One to confirm it, one to hold it down, and one to (insert euphemism here).
Wait - you were talking about inspectors? I thought you meant priests.*
*I apologize in advance for the above joke.
@rainmkr: We're lucky enough to get our eggs from a local farm and while they aren't certified organic, they're sustainable, hormone-free and free-range, and taste amazing. Best of all, they aren't terribly expensive -- I highly recommend checking out local chickens.
@JulesNoctambule: I second that. I buy local eggs at a health food store. They are really good. The yolk is so dark and rich.
Unknowingly my FOOT....
@JulesNoctambule: I concur. Local free-range farm chicken eggs are delicious. But the chickens themselves? They take some getting used to, those aren't something you can go into thinking it'll taste like you're used to.
@Red-headed bookworm: Very serious flaws - we have a lot wrong with our food production practices, regulation, and enforcement.
While I strongly agree with you, I'd like to gently point out something that others might be less sensitive about - though you probably mean "synthetic chemicals" or "toxic chemicals" or something similar, saying you don't want chemicals in your food doesn't mean precisely that.
Every type of matter is chemicals - which I'm sure you're aware of. But this kind of shorthand leads to the misconceptions that not only are there no 'good chemicals' but that anything natural (or 'non-chemical') is safe and good. This is more than a pedantic point. There is a lot of scientific & legal debate over what are actually naturally derived substances and a lot of powerful interests weighing in on what should be labeled as natural, organic, safe, non-toxic, etc. Public confusion over the very idea of "chemicals" means that the more subtle distinctions get overlooked, and lay people's input is ignored because - as many scientists believe - they just don't understand the basics.
Sorry for the lecture - it's a pet peeve of mine, but mostly because it ends up with concerned people unintentionally shooting themselves in the foot when they're trying to bring important issues to light.
Where's Inspector Gadget when you need him?
Go Go Gadget!!
@Applekid: I don't understand the entire "Because people choose another type of diet, they are immediately smug as hell" movement. I see this time and time again all over the internet. People hate vegetarians or vegans like they killed their favorite puppy. Same goes for those who choose to eat organic. I see a thousand comments pop up that are like "HAHAHA you morally superior bastards, you got what you deserved". But I never see anyone chiding those who eat whatever a "conventional" diet even is.
These other diet people always try to explain themselves in a logical manner saying things about helping the enviroment, or their health, or the whole humane thing. I dont eat any kind of specialized diet but understand the reasoning of those who do. Everytime I ask the intrawebs cloud about this mass hatred I always get responses that are like "One time in college I knew this crazy animal rights chick" or "My emo nephew is an asshole to those who dont eat meat". I just can't believe people base their entire opinions on weak anecedotes like these.
People who choose other diets %99 of the time do so after informed research and just because they might pay more doesn't make them dicks.
Just for confusing funsies -- fish (not shellfish, but fish) are not only generally kosher, but also pareve, meaning they are neutral foods and not considered meat. You can mix fish with dairy with impunity!
Shellfish, on the other hand, would make it non-kosher. Also catfish. Jews aren't supposed to eat bottom-feeders in general. :)
@oneandone: I'm so glad you pointed that out because it is also a pet-peeve of mine. I'm glad it bothers someone else out there on the interwebs too.
News like this makes me so glad I re-thought on buying Whole Foods stocks at $20. They probably have a long way to go yet--the one across the street from my house stocks this brand like mad.
Just one more reason the word 'organic' is such a joke.
Yes, the idea is great and I heartily approve of it, but once the term gets Whole Food-ed and even worse Archer Daniels Midland-ed then it's been diluted to uselessness. Just look at what qualifies as 'organic free range chicken' as well.
F'ING A**MASTERS!!!! This is NO different than a Chinese baby food manufacturer putting poison into baby's milk!! CRAP I'm starting to hate the human race. I'm sorry...why do we deserve to live again? Besides the invisible friend theory everyone banters about?
Inspectors confirmed the taint in 2005
This, here, is the real story.