What annoys me the most is that the food industry COULD clean up their current messes considerably, but they simply WON'T. They REFUSE.

While the media jumps on occasional outbreaks of problems from organic sources, what is the source of most of the food recalls (esp meat)? Answer: Feedlot livestock and USDA-inspected/approved processing plants.

I'm not saying that organic food isn't without a few problems, but since when is fresh food expected to be STERILE? What are the ramifications of eating completely sterile food?

Even when labeled organic, many of the problems that show up are from high-volume growers who have jumped onto the organic bandwagon and have been pressuring the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) to make exceptions for them, or they're hiding what they're really doing. They don't give a fig about organic methods, they just want to be able to sell their products for the higher prices.

Before the 3-year organic minimums for certification, it used to be one year; some chemical growers were pouring extra petro-chemicals onto their land one year, then selling the produce grown the second year as 'organic'.

There really are pseudo-organic growers who pour raw manure onto their fields instead of composting it for a year or so to kill off most of the pathogens. Then, when the media gets hold of a problem from methods like that, they paint the whole organic movement with the same brush, small farmers, home gardeners, everyone. Then the people lurking in the background with their nuclear accelerators (or whatever they're called) jump out waving their arms, shouting that ALL food needs to be irradiated for safety.

Screw safety -- I want real food.

Sue