ARTICLE: Good for you? Choose veggies that are pesticide-free
Buffalo News, June 14th, 2010, By Charity Vogel / News Staff Reporter
If you’ve ever sliced a fruit or mashed a vegetable for a growing kid, you’ve no doubt had this thought:
This food is good for this child.
But is that really true?
To be sure, fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients that children need to develop in muscle, bone and brain: vitamins, calcium, minerals.
But a new analysis of government health data shows that many American children are also consuming eye-opening amounts of pesticides along with their healthy servings of produce — and that there is a link between pesticide residue in kids’ bodies and the incidence of attention-deficit disorder.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics last month, showed that 94 percent of American kids had detectable levels of pesticide residue in their urine.
Higher levels of pesticide residue in children’s bodies were linked with a greater chance in children of having ADHD, according to the study.
ADHD, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is becoming more common among children, and involves the inability to focus for any length of time, hyperactive behavior and impulsivity. It can cause children to have trouble learning in school.
In Western New York, where fresh produce fills grocery stores and farm markets from this time of year until the fall, some observers are worried that local kids are consuming too much pesticide matter on their food — as well as in water, and breathing it in the air or walking across it on sprayed lawns.
“When you spray pesticides, you watch the bugs shake all over the place — and then die,” said Kathleen Frank. “It works on their nervous system. We’ve seen our own children having a lot of emotional problems, a lot of nervous problems.”
Frank, produce manager at Feel Rite Fresh Markets on Maple Road in Amherst, stocks the shelves in her store with nothing but organic produce. That means the soil in which the food was grown has no pesticides in it, and the produce itself was grown without pesticide application.
Frank said she knows from her own experience that eating a “cleaner diet” can make you feel better, and she strongly advocates organic produce to those she meets.
It’s not that much more expensive, she said, especially for apples and bananas — foods that children love and typically want to eat.
“[Your food] doesn’t have to have all those pesticides. It doesn’t have to have all that garbage on it,” she said. “Maybe don’t buy those Doritos — you are what you eat.”
At Wegmans, nutritionist Theresa Amborski said that many supermarkets are now offering organic options in most sections of the market, allowing families to pick and choose what they want to buy from those products.
“You can get organic dairy, breads, meats and produce,” stated Amborski, in an e-mail, “and I’m even seeing regular boxed grocery items start to reflect the trend.”
Amborski recommends that consumers educate themselves on organic produce and labeling. Wegmans has a “Shopping for Organics” page on its Web site, www.wegmans.com, with information on terminology and facts about organic products.
And, Amborski advises shoppers to review the “Dirty Dozen” guide published by the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., which highlights the types of produce most likely to be contaminated by pesticides, as well as a “Clean 15″ of foods likely to be lowest in pesticide residue.
At Feel Rite, Frank recommended that consumers wash all produce items whether they are organic or not — fruits and vegetables, with skin and without — thoroughly before using, with a special produce wash or with regular soap.
Even a few small changes in choices, from regular to organic goods, can start the shift in people’s thinking and get them feeling better and healthier, Frank said.
“It’s a thinking process,” she said. “It’s an education process.”
Kathleen Frank, produce manager at Feel-Rite Fresh Market on Maple Road in Amherst, says her store stocks only organic produce.
Fair for Life Social & Fair Trade Certification includes high transparency, social responsibility audits, requirements for good environmental performance, and the ability to combine Fair Trade certification with other programs, such as organic certification, for all major world markets.
Discovery Islands Organics is an organic and Fair Trade importer and distributor for fresh produce. They carry several product lines, such as bananas from Peru, and avocados and mangos from Mexico, that are certified, and now also blueberries, apples and pears that are Fair for Life Fair Trade Certified. Discovery Islands Organics´ ethnical sourcing policy is to buy local and direct, first and foremost, and they also work primarily with grower cooperatives for the majority of their product sourcing. They help to educate their growers on fair trade, and have supported the implementation of fair trade certified systems with their growers.
: We are happy to see a pioneer in the Northwestern and Canadian organic movements embrace fair trade among its sourcing practices and company policy,! said Wolfgang Kathe, department manager for social and fairtrade at IMO.: The combination of organic and fair trade, both domestically and internationally are important in promoting sustainability through trade.!
Three decades ago, conventional wisdom and conventional food producers assumed that customers cared only about cheap and convenient food. The future they envisioned was based upon generic food plain white boxes with plain black labels proclaiming: corn flakes,!: soda crackers! and my all-time favorite : beer.!
Generic food aisles came and went because consumers wanted more than just cheap and convenient. As more people demanded good, wholesome, healthy food, the federal government responded with laws like the Organic Foods Production Act. That was then. Today, traceability marks a new trend throughout the conventional and natural food channels. Retailers are requesting it. New laws mandate it. Everything from the Food Safety Enhancement Act to the National Animal Identification is rooted in the need for greater traceability in the food system. But building a safe, wholesome food infrastructure simply upon traceability misses the boat.
Customers want authenticity, not just traceability. Farmers´ markets have exploded across the country in part because people want to see the growers behind the products they are feeding their families. Traceability tells our customers the where and how of food production. Authenticity accentuates the who.
Authenticity is all about added value. Knowing that a product was grown by farmers who don´t use synthetic pesticides and herbicides adds value for customers who connect diet and health. Buying meat from ranchers who pasture-raise their animals adds value in terms of taste and confidence regarding animal husbandry.
The strong push for greater traceability is creating an explosion of new audit systems, software and electronic tracking devices that enable retailers and regulators to pinpoint the source of any food safety breakdown in the supply chain. (For more on new technology, click here for our story on “Beyond the bar code.!) Why not utilize this new regulatory system for something more beneficial than forcing extra paperwork and record keeping upon growers and suppliers? This is an opportunity to introduce those growers to your customers.
Farmers and ranchers today are increasingly frustrated by the burgeoning requirements of documenting their protocols without receiving commensurate rewards for the added value they create through their growing practices, land stewardship and animal management. Adding that value will not only serve as a nice bonus, but may ultimately help keep independent growers in business.
Customers today want products grown locally and produced by independent farmers. Ironically, the capital investment and labor requirements for documenting all production and handling procedures favors industrialized operations that can hire teams of quality assurance specialists and database managers. For smaller independent growers, increased traceability requirements mean only one more set of chores at the end of a very long day.
Creating a supply chain where paperwork and documentation replace personal relationships and trust only ultimately pushes the food system away from the very values customers are seeking today. Rewarding producers for the authenticity of the products they supply helps restore those relationships and brings added value to customers and growers alike.
Dave Carter is principal of Crystal Springs Consulting and executive director of the National Bison Association. He maintains a small herd of buffalo in Colorado.
ANAHEIM, Calif. As the economy begins to slowly recover, the produce industry faces a radically different business environment where consumers have less loyalty and are concerned about sustainability.
Dawn Withers
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, speaks about the future of the produce industry during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3.
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, said during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3 that while consumers are looking to get more value for their produce purchases and are spending less, they want to connect to the items they buy and the companies that grow them.
: Getting back to basics is about supporting the community,! Silbermann said.
In the new economy, Silbermann said consumers are concerned about the ethics behind the produce they buy, whether workers are paid well or how the produce is grown, and feel they are bettering their communities through locally sourced produce.
: It´s a fundamental shift in how some people view their place in the world,! Silbermann said.
This just in from a fresh produce industry paper. Consumers are more and more concerned about the processes behind their products. The broken economy has encouraged customers to see linkages between their collective actions. An optimistic outlook for fair trade and responsible consumption in general. This year with over 19,000 attendees, the Fresh Summit is the largest produce conference in the US, held annually. -michela*
Produce industry faces changed world after recession
http://thepacker.com Published on 10/04/2009 09:00am By Dawn Withers
ANAHEIM, Calif. As the economy begins to slowly recover, the produce industry faces a radically different business environment where consumers have less loyalty and are concerned about sustainability.
Dawn Withers
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, speaks about the future of the produce industry during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3.
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, said during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3 that while consumers are looking to get more value for their produce purchases and are spending less, they want to connect to the items they buy and the companies that grow them.
: Getting back to basics is about supporting the community,! Silbermann said.
In the new economy, Silbermann said consumers are concerned about the ethics behind the produce they buy, whether workers are paid well or how the produce is grown, and feel they are bettering their communities through locally sourced produce.
: It´s a fundamental shift in how some people view their place in the world,! Silbermann said.
Three decades ago, conventional wisdom and conventional food producers assumed that customers cared only about cheap and convenient food. The future they envisioned was based upon generic food plain white boxes with plain black labels proclaiming: corn flakes,!: soda crackers! and my all-time favorite : beer.!