22,419,523 members doing good!
about our ads
share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more
I DON'T NEED NO STINKING SPINACH FROM CHINA
Feb 2, 2010
I've been vegetarian for about 30 years.  It never caused my family or friends anxiety.  I would eat around the meat or fish and never ask for any special treatment.  In the early years it was easy to shop.  I'd hit the farmers' market, stroll through the fruits and vegetables and make great casseroles, salads and fruit and veggie shakes.  Life was good.

When I moved to Chicago and the first Whole Foods grocery store opened, I was in organic nirvana.  I shopped for organic foods, this store spoke my language, bananas tasted more banana-y, blueberries tasted as I'd remembered them from childhood, apples were almost orgasmic in their sweetness and juiciness.  What a treat compared to the increasingly tasteless produce in the chain stores.  I trusted the Oregon Tilth and other established entities to certify that a food was organic.  I trusted the small farmer whose name and face appeared above the apples I purchased.  There were even great frozen organic products by a variety of labels.

After several years, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture realized there was money to be made in the organic field.  They created their own organic certification.  Shortly after, the variety of companies disappeared and Whole Foods started replacing other brands with their own 365 Day Organic brand.  Let's face it, it may have been a store with a mission, but when there's big money to be made, let's get involved.

Then one day I decided to purchase the store's brand of frozen organic spinach.  I usually buy fresh produce, but sometimes the frozen stuff comes in handy.  When that day came, I opened the bag of spinach and was about to pour it into a pan when the words "Product of China" stood out on the back of the bag like a skull and crossbones.  My first thought was why is the U.S. importing spinach; don't we grow enough here?  My second thought was about pollution in China--why would I eat something grown in soil by a country known for its lack of control with respect to use of pesticides, a country that for profit poisoned its own babies with tainted formula and denied any wrong doing.  Maybe there were traces of lead in the spinach.  Well, I complained to Whole Foods.  Their manager was as surprised as I was, and he had a nice smile, too.  Guess I'd just have to watch the labels very carefully.

A couple of days ago, I was in our local hispanic produce store.  They're beginning to carry some organic produce, and their non-organics look fresher and more alive than the food in the large chain stores which is warehoused for weeks or months prior to going on the shelves.  I picked up a bag of four bulbs of organic garlic and son of a gun, it's a product of China.  Then I noticed some organic Mandarin oranges.  Thankfully, they were grown in California so I bought them.

Gee, what's my moral to this story?  Not sure, but until we can repay China the big money we owe them, read your food labels carefully.
(0) | () | | send green star | flag as inappropriate
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted: Feb 2, 2010 8:02am

 
 
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.

Author

Pat L.
female , married, 1 child
Westmont, IL, USA
Shares by Type:
All (12) | Blog (12)

Showing shares tagged with: organics [show all]
ads keep care2 free
SHARES FROM PAT'S NETWORK
Apr
4
(0 comments  |  discussions )
https://www.facebook.com/ groups/petitionsforanimal rights/?fref=ts 
Mar
4
(3 comments  |  discussions )
 Dear friends and other readers of my profile, Since February 2012, I have not accepted any "friend requests", sent any "green stars", or sent any birthday e-cards and I apologize for that. I am receiving so many messages from Care...
(8 comments  |  discussions )
  Since nobody seems to notice the PETITIONS on MY PAGE BILLBOARD, I am also putting them here. The largest massacre of native wild land animals is taking place every night in the Australian outback. 4 million kangaroos...
(5 comments  |  discussions )
This share is not important and the only reason that I do not delete it is that some people have left comments. I edited my other 2 shares on March 3, 2013 but they are not immediately visible when one clicks on my profile. Maybe that changes after I...
Oct
19
by Gina C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
I cant get these poor animals out of my head..In windowless warehouses, breathing toxic fumes, standing in their own waste their whole lives, crated and unable to move, raped to be forced to reproduce, ripped from their families, overweight with anti...
Sep
23
(0 comments  |  discussions )
All things I love
Sep
15
by Gina C.
(3 comments  |  discussions )
Thank you everyone who tried to sign this petition, for the feedback and suggestions. I apologize for the problems and so does the author. :) She closed that one due to so many issues and created a new one..here is the link:  www.signon.org/sign/...
Mar
12
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Please consider sharing some of the petitions on here through Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/ groups/petitionsforanimal rights/ Hope you'll have time to take a quick look, this is a very active group for sharing petitions:-) Kindest Regar...
Feb
7
(0 comments  |  discussions )
http://www.barkingmad.co. za/   &nbs p;     ;       Barking Mad – Dogtown of South Africa http://clicktogive.com/An imal-Care.aspx      & nbsp;Animal Care http://fe...
Jan
10
(0 comments  |  0 discussions )
FREE Spay/Neuter Surgeriesfor Pit Bulls & Pit Bull Mixed Dogs! Program includes the spay/neuter surgery and a rabies vaccination. To qualify the dog owner must be a Duval, Nassau or Clay County resident and the dog must be at least 12 weeks o...

Copyright © 2013 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved