Monthly Archives: December 2008

Recycla and her family eat organic food — a lot of it.  They do so in order to ensure that they’re not ingesting pesticides or anything else yucky.

With all the of news coming out of China about melamine in foods, as well as other toxic substances, Recycla has been patting herself on the back for making a point to eat organic.  She has also been making a point to eat more locally-grown and produced foods.   She’s not a true locavore, but she’s making an effort to avoid foods that have been imported from other countries.

Earlier this week, The Green Mommy sent Recycla this link about new toxins that have been found in foods originating from China.  It is a disturbing list — especially since these substances were intentionally added to foods to improve appearance or increase  size — but Recycla wasn’t worried about her own family’s immediate health and safety.

Then, that very day, she realized that the frozen shelled edamame that she has been buying for her family at Whole Foods in large quantities — and which her family eats in equally large quantities — comes from China.  Edamame (a.k.a. soybeans) is not an exotic found only in the Far East.  It is a food that grows very well in the U.S., including in vast fields in Recycla’s home state of Virginia, and is usually planted next to corn fields as part of a crop rotation plan to replenish the nutrients in the soils.  Edamame is so easy to grow that Recycla’s younger daughter produced her very own crop of it this past summer with almost no effort at all.

Needless to say, Recycla’s family has not eaten any edamame since this revelation, as Recycla needs to do further research in the matter.  She has scoured the Whole Foods website and blog and not found anything that assuages her concerns.  She has emailed the Whole Foods coroporate office and will be talking to the manager of her local store.  She wants to know 1) Why Whole Foods is buying edamame from China when it is so plentiful here in the U.S. and 2) what steps the company has taken to ensure the safety of this food.  The product is not labelled as organic, so just how safe is the dirt it grows in and the water source used to irrigate the crop?  What pesticides are the Chinese farmers using on this food?

Recycla’s faith in her favorite grocery store has been badly shaken.

Update #1 — Recycla went to a different grocery store yesterday and checked for edamame there.  They had THREE different organic brands and ALL came from China.  This is not good.

Update #2 — Recycla received the following response from the Whole Foods corporate office:

Thank you for writing Whole Foods Market with your concerns about organic products coming from China. You raise many concerns in your email, and I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond.

Today, the demand for affordable, quality agricultural ingredients – especially organics – has outpaced the domestic supply, requiring us at times to purchase products from other countries.  Whole Foods Market works to ensure to the best of its ability the quality and integrity of each product we sell, regardless of the country where it is produced.  Our Private Label family of brands has a small percentage of single-ingredient products from China, which equates to less than two percent of our more than 2,000 Private Label products.

Whole foods Market has a comprehensive quality assurance and social accountability process to ensure the integrity of suppliers and their products, regardless of the country of origin. And all organic products – regardless of where they are grown– must meet U.S. federal standards for organic integrity, and are audited and certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent.

When we evaluate products we choose to offer our shoppers, we are constantly monitoring emerging issues. We invest a significant amount of time and energy in order to fully understand all facets of product procurement, sourcing products from credible vendors and working with independent third-party inspectors on whom we rely to perform audits to assess food handling and safety procedures.

Also, please know that our goal it to provide our shoppers with choices, so that if one chooses not to buy products from China, then there are other options available in our stores.

Thank you again for offering us the opportunity to give you more information. We have additional information on the issue on our web site (links below), and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like more information.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/sourcing.php

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/?s=products+from+china