Back in February, I was taken aback when one of my yoga teachers sent me the link to an ABC video (posted on YouTube) that uncovered the reality of the organic frozen produce at Whole Foods that was grown in China. In a nutshell, the Chinese government (via the U.S. Organic Crop Improvement Association) was monitoring their own organic certification and the details were pretty secret. Taking China's history of deception into consideration - think: melamine in baby formula, lead in kids' toys, etc - I, and others, decided that it would be a good idea to avoid the "certified" organic, Grown in China items. Sadly, that means that I haven't been able to get frozen, organic edamame since. Some people thought that they should ban Whole Foods all together, but I didn't really see the necessity in that. I could be biased though; I love Whole Foods.
Why am I sharing all this now? Well, the good news is that this week the USDA decided to ban the Organic Crop Improvement Association from continuing their business in China. This is great news for those of us concerned about the organic standards and our exposure to synthetic chemicals used in industrial agriculture... and hopefully it means I can get organic frozen edamame again! If you want to read more about this, check out the New York Times article, or Marion Nestle's blog posting (an outstanding expert on food politics, and luckily one of my professors at NYU).
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