Quick Links > > Annie's Main Page Newsletter and Article Archives < < Quick Links

We are in the middle of a food quality crisis in America. Actually, we have been for some time but the media is finally beginning to expose the depth of the problem. Some time ago that crisis hit home for us as we purchased some soy sauce without paying much attention to the label. I remember the awful taste of the stuff and that it left a nasty after-taste of something burnt in my mouth. When I looked at the label I saw it was made in China. The stuff went right down the drain. Imagine my reaction when I learned recently that most of the soy sauce made in China is actually made of human hair collected from the barber shop floors! The hair, a cheap source of protein, is literally stewed down into something that resembles soy sauce. This sounds like something from a 1970's socioscience fiction movie. Well it's not! Human hair is cheaper than soybeans and in a country that can not begin to enforce food laws even if they wanted to, the dollar rules.

This is just one of literally thousands of examples of everything from melamine to industrial chemicals being shipped from China in food. Shrimp from China is loaded with antibiotics and other banned chemicals as it is raised in ponds with chicken crates above them. The chickens are fed massive quantities of antibiotics and the shrimp live on what the chickens leave behind! See http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070725/ts_csm/anofish_1 for a story related to this. These stories go on and on and the truth is, we have no clue of how bad things really are! Yet most consumers pay no attention to the country of origin on the label when buying food. Those that do may be interested to know that often times that information is misrepresented. Very often! Food that is banned for import to the US for one reason or another is often shipped to a third party country and then to the US. My question though, is China really the root cause of this crisis?

In a world of so many choices, the American consumer is not being forced to eat the awful stuff that is masquerading as food on our store shelves. I believe that if most people were truly aware of what was in their food, their eating and buying habits would instantly and radically change. So why is this happening?

For one thing, there is BIG money at stake and corruption abounds. I will site the honey industry. There is a national honey board that is supposed to promote and regulate the honey industry. A collection of beekeepers, right? Wrong. The membership of this board has increasingly become importer/packer oriented, big business folks that are attracted to the BIG dollars that can be made in the industry by importing honey at a tenth of it's American value and selling it to an uninformed American consumer. What is worse, the US beekeepers are forced to support this nonsense through a mandatory check-off of a penny a pound that goes straight to the National Honey Board. There is a current struggle in the industry to go to an exclusively importer/packer board. This means that there will be virtually NO input allowed from the American beekeeper. I can guarantee you that the BIG money will win in this battle. This in a country where we falsely assume our government will protect us in these matters. I will spare you for right now the actual contents of the honey that comes from China but trust me, if you knew, you wouldn't eat it!

One argument for free trade suggests that the American consumer benefits from the market competition of the imports. There is definitely some truth to this as it does put pressure on the domestic producer to keep prices in check. The problem is that often times there is no level playing field and that producers in exporting countries enjoy an extreme advantage in cost. Labor is extremely cheap in China and agricultural laborers are often paid 20 cents an hour and live in horrid conditions. Add to that the relaxed or at least poorly enforced food regulations in China (and other countries) and it's impossible for the domestic producer to compete. We should all realize by now, that we are importing more than a product from these countries, we most often end up importing a way of life!

But how about truth in labeling laws? Don't they tell us where our food comes from? The truth has become sort of a conveniently fuzzy thing that can be easily manipulated to suit corporate needs. Aside from the outright lies on labels regarding country of origin and contents, terms such as "Organic", "Natural", and "Local" are constantly under attack. In light of this mess of a food scandal that is constantly unfolding before our eyes, it is increasingly important to be an informed consumer and to know the right questions to ask. Here is an article that sheds some light on the misuse of the word "natural". It in an excerpt from of all things, a financial newsletter called "What We Now Know". I find it a thought provoking and well put together publication. You can find it at: http://www.investorsinsight.com

Following the recent food scare from China, 92% of consumers now want "Country of Origin" labels on their food, found the latest poll in Consumer Reports.

What a lot of people don't realize is that even food made in the U.S. provides no guarantee against being duped.

In an attempt to make healthier choices, many consumers pick food items with the label "Natural" in the grocery store.

A 2002 study by the National Consumers League (NCL) showed that 76% of the surveyed believed that foods with "natural" on the package contain at least 90% natural ingredients; another 80% thought "natural" products were good for them.

NCL President Linda Golodner begs to differ: "Products with the 'natural' labeling are not required by law to contain only natural ingredients."

In fact, in most cases "natural" doesn't mean anything, because - unlike the label "organic" - it has no definition in law or regulation.

There are only two exceptions: "Natural flavors" means by law that a flavor has to be derived from natural sources like fruit juice, spices, herbs, etc. And in meat, the USDA allows the word only for minimally processed meat and poultry products without artificial ingredients or added colors.

In every other context, natural means exactly what the food manufacturer - or rather, its advertising agency - wants it to mean.

"Food companies can get away with using all sorts of non-natural processes and chemical ingredients in a food product that they claim is all natural," says health advocate Mike Adams from NewsTarget.com. For example, foods fried at high temperatures, resulting in the formation of cancer-causing acrylamides, are routinely labeled 'all natural' in the snack section of the grocery store. And yet frying starches at high temperatures isn't natural at all - it's a human-invented process for making boring foods like potatoes taste interesting by loading them up with fat and salt."

Just because a food contains sea salt instead of regular salt, and peanut oil instead of hydrogenated oil, doesn't mean it's good for you.

Then what's the manufacturers' reasoning for their claims?

Adams explains, "They can take whole wheat berries from nature, mill them down and strip out 98% of the nutrients, bleach the flour with chemicals, 'enrich' the flour with synthetic chemical vitamins, and then claim their wheat is 'all natural.' And why is it natural? Because it comes from the earth, they would say. It was grown by nature."

Taking that as a premise, 99% of all food items could be called natural. What a scam.

Some grocery stores now offer nutritional guidance systems on their shelves: the Hannaford chain calls them "Guiding Stars," and they range from 0 for food items with little to no nutritional value to 3 for best pick.

But in the end, the best way to ensure you're getting healthy food is to go with organic food items... and even then, pay attention to the amount of fat, salt and sugar added. If possible, buy locally grown food from farmers' markets and farm stands.

To your health!

- - - -

We at Annie's Acres don't use terms like "Natural" lightly. To us natural means that you can trust there will be no unwanted chemicals or other "stuff" in your food. That it will be raise with care in soil that has not been messed with or contaminated by chemicals. It means that after farming that soil this way for 10 or 1000 years, it will remain healthy and able to sustain and nourish future generations. We believe that our little farm is part of God's creation and that for this present but temporary time we are charged with its care. We are stewards of the land and are accountable as such. We also believe that the truth is something that shouldn't be messed or tinkered with.  When we say something, it ought to be with integrity and honesty.

In closing, it is our wish for you that the food on your table would remain good and healthy for you. That it would nourish and not harm you. It is truly a blessing to be able to raise food from start to finish and know that what we are offering from this little farm is wholesome and pure. But in the end, we would like to help you become a well-informed buyer of good food wherever you do your shopping.

One of Your Gardeners,

Mark