Organic Products, Not Organic.

As many things as we all have to worry about day to day, we certainly need to be able to count on our labels to be informative and accurate.

Attached is a list of products involved in a lawsuit claiming the labels falsely represent the products. Maybe one day we can have a bit more corporate responsibility.

Mislabeled "Organic" Personal Care Products - Center for Environmental Health.

Poison Chicken -- Another Reason to Buy Organic

Image: Wikimedia Commons: jlastras

 The FDA released a study which turned up arsenic in chickens treated with a drug called 3-Nitro or Roxarsone. The drug  manufacturer, Pfizer, voluntarily stopped sales. Roxarsone has been used since the 1940s in poultry production to treat "a parasitic disease that affects the intestinal tracts of animals" as well as "for weight gain, feed efficiency and improved pigmentation". Farmers are expected to transition to new methods of treatment.

Via: FDA: Pfizer will voluntarily suspend sale of animal drug 3-Nitro.

Homeless Aren't Rats...Quit Treating Them That Way.

Image: Food Not Bombs

"Three activists from Food Not Bombs were arrested in Orlando last week for feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park. Police charged them with intentionally violating a city ordinance, because in April the group was unable to obtain a permit to operate in the park." via 3 Arrested in Orlando for Feeding Homeless – Eat Drink Better.

Not So Boring Snack

Image: http://www.ohdeedoh.com

Kids tend to want the same snacks over and over. Give snack time a new life with some old classics.
Play With Your Food: Burt & Ernie From Fruit Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons | Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh.

Are You Getting The Fish You Ordered?

"Recent studies by researchers in North America and Europe harnessing the new techniques have consistently found that 20 to 25 percent of the seafood products they check are fraudulently identified, fish geneticists say."

I don't particularly  like fish. And, this sure isn't helping.

via New Technology Reveals Widespread Mislabeling of Fish - NYTimes.com.

Get Rid of Garden Slugs Without Pesticide

IMAGE: RAYMOND SPENCER

"A bed edging of rough silicon carbide sheets creates a low-key barricade against garden slugs."  You need to have a raised bed for this, or garden in pots. If using pots, you will need to be creative on how to attach the sandpaper.

Read more: Beat Garden Slugs With Sandpaper - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS.

Because sweet isn't good enough....

Yet another reason to put down that soda. "Pepsi's next major cola product looks to be a still-secret "mid-calorie" soda, with sixty percent less sugar than a regular can of Pepsi, but that still tastes exactly the same as the real thing. The secret? Flavor enhancements. "Biotech products that are not sweet themselves, but increase the intensity of sweeteners," so it tastes like real sugar."

If sweeter isn't enough, salt-ier is also a goal for the soft drink company.  "Pepsi's custom-designed a new type of type salt—"15 micron salt"—whose molecular structure is designed expressly to taste saltier (maintaining the "taste curve"), allowing Pepsi to douse Lay's potato chips with less sodium, while delivering the same salty kick. (Fun fact: You only taste about 20-25 percent of the salt on the chips. And no one knows how salt really works.) It's going to show up on Lay's in 2012." via The Future of Salt and Sugar Is Being Engineered in a PepsiCo Lab.

Quick & Easy, What to Buy Organic

EWG’S  SHOPPER’S GUIDE TO PESTICIDES

Download the Guide| Environmental Working Group. (Also available in an app for your phone.)

You can't have your 'Coke' and drink it, too.

Soda often gets blamed for America's obesity problems. And despite our ever-growing knowledge of its health risks (diabetes, obesity, etc.) we continue a torrid love affair with the drink. I must admit there is something wonderful about that first sip of Coca-Cola on a hot summer day.

A Great Soda Alternative

When I was pregnant with my second child I had a hard time giving up my Coke. But alas, it was caffeinated -- keeping me awake when I desperately needed rest. I came up with a great alternative.

The Pregnant Ladies Soda

• 3/4 cup Simply Lemonade (or, even better your own homemade lemonade)
• 1/4 cup Club Soda
• Ice

Directions: Pour the lemonade and club soda in a glass over ice. Stir & stir well and enjoy.

This would also make a great soda alternative for children.

Whole Foods Rates its Green Cleaning Products

The new cleaning product rating system at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods is First Retailer to Rate Green Cleaning Products. via Mother Earth News

What do you know about your Sweetener?

A nice flow chart by befoodsmart.com to help you pick the "best" sweetener. The website has some great information about each sweetner at the bottom as well.

Is it Time to Change Your Sweetener?.

Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?

"A landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C over the past half century."
via Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?: Scientific American.

Wendy's Natural-Cut Fries, All You Need To Know Is In The Name

Your clue here is the lawsuit-dodging-name "natural-cut". Wendy's never says their new fries are all natural -- only natural(ly)-cut.

Review of Farm Burger in Decatur Georgia

I went to Farm Burger this weekend in Decatur, GA for the second time.



Image: Farm Burger Website

According to their website "we depend on local farmers, ranchers and land stewards to make your burger as good as it is. From our beef to our tomatoes to our compostable containers to our owners, Farm Burger is sustainable, local, humane, and helping to reroute our food system to function more like an ecosystem than a corporation."

Egypt To Get 3% Of Africa’s Thousand Slow Food Gardens

Egypt To Get 3% Of Africa’s Thousand Slow Food Gardens | Green Prophet.

"As part of the “Terra Madre” project, the Italian Slow Food Organization has plans to help locals grow 1,000 local gardens throughout Africa. The idea is to take back indigenous crops while also integrating more advanced and efficient growing techniques. This ambitious program will also help communities and individuals wrestle themselves from such industrial horrors as meat glue: the meat industry’s dirty secret."