Andrew Martin reported in the New York Times yesterday that "the Department of Agriculture, the final arbiter of all things organic, is poised to approve a list of nonorganic ingredients that can be used in food stamped with its green-and-white organic seal."
I for one find this whole argument really silly.
I'm outraged that the folks at the Department of Agriculture are approving the use of inorganically made fructoolighsaccharidies in organic processed foods. I've always found organic fructoolighsaccharidies to be so much tastier.
Just kidding. I just wanted to use fructoolighsaccharidies in a sentence a couple of times.
This whole argument is getting really silly. Processed food, whether it's made with inorganic or organic ingredients, is still processed food. When John Foraker, chief executive of Annie's Homegrown, says things like "Organic annatto is not readily available and does not deliver the same cheese color. Making orange colored macaroni and cheese is an important element of our offering. Without annatto, our macaroni-and-cheese products would be white," he totally misses the point.
Eating an organic Dorito is no better for you than a regular one, and I for one like Doritos a lot. The industrial organic movement is merely a marketing ploy, and it seems like it's a mighty effective one at that. These kinds of silly arguments about the use of inorganic additives in processed food deflect attention from the real food issue facing all of us, namely how we as a culture reconcile sustainability with pleasure, health, and affordability.
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