That's what Greenpeace calls the genetically engineered rice that the USDA recently approved for field trials (read the .pdf here). It's bad enough that experimental plots of genetically modified rice contaminated traditional rice last summer in several states. But the latest approved variety contains two—count 'em—human proteins. That the approval breezed through without an Environmental Impact Statement makes the situation even less appetizing.
What Organic Standards?
With huge food corporations falling all over themselves to get their piece of the growing organic pie, it was only a matter of time before purity and integrity fell victim to dollars and cents. So mark your calendars. Effective June 9, some 38 non-organic agricultural products will receive USDA blessing to be included in certified "organic" foods. There's a .pdf link here. Those organic sausages you like? They can come wrapped in the intestinal casings of non-organic cattle. Not much assurance there for those of us just now getting over mad-cow queasiness. Beets, blueberries, carrots, cherries, grapes, and pumpkins needn't be organic if their juice is used as a color additive. (Did anyone ask why organic products needed color additives in the first place?) The same holds true for the dillweed oil that adds punch to your "organic" pickles, the celery powder that pumps up the nitrates in "organic" bacon, and the fish oil that fortifies processed foods with omega-3s. Nothing, it seems, is sacred. Even the hops that give zing to "organic" beer can be doused in chemicals. Permissible adulteration doesn't stop with non-organic agricultural additives, either. If you want to read something truly scary, take a look at the so-called National List of more than 160 synthetic compounds that are allowed for use on "organic" foods. Care for a little sodium hypochlorite with your organic chlorhexidine?
Kudos
To Linblad Expeditions, whose locally sourced and environmentally sustainable approach to feeding passengers on its far-ranging cruise ships was detailed in Gourmet by Laura Fraser ("How Green is My Galley"; December, 2005), for winning the 2007 Tourism for Tomorrow award. The award was given to the company "for outstanding leadership as a global model for environmental stewardship." Read the Press Release (again, a .pdf) here.
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