Buy Local, Buy Organic, It’s Important!

I was inspired to write a post about looking for, and buying, local produce and food by this article I spied yesterday on Alternet.org about the soybeans used for making Silk soy milk.

Few Silk products are certified organic anymore, and some are processed with hexane, a neurotoxin. The use of hexane poses risks to workers in the plants and possibly the consumers of the product and is listed as an air pollutant by EPA. In Illinois alone, 5 million pounds of hexane are released into the environment by food processors Bunge, Cargill and Arthur Daniels Midland.

While the green “USDA Organic” seal is gone, hexane-processed soymilk can still be labeled “natural,” and if it contains organic ingredients, the label “made with organic ingredients” is still used.

A recent USDA report, “Emerging Issues in the U.S. Organic Industry,” points out two notable trends in American food: Conventional food corporations are taking over successful independent organic companies, and the corporations are becoming increasingly dependent on imported ingredients.

I like buying organic food as much as possible. I rely, for the most part, on my local Whole Foods grocery store for my supply, but I shop at the local farmer’s markets when I get a chance. Reading the article quoted above, even though it’s only about soybeans, makes me want to buy only from local growers, or to go one step further and get my own victory garden going in the yard.

The sad thing is what large corporations are doing to smaller, organic farms by purchasing produce from China.

The way to stop this is to stop buying ‘organic’ products that are produced by large corporations. And by buying from smaller vendors, and local producers, encourage them to resist the urge to sell out when an offer is made with your pocketbook.