Showing posts with label food industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food industry. Show all posts
2/05/2012
2/03/2011
Food Matters Showing Feb. 4, 7:00, Raven's Wing
Food Matters is a feature length documentary film informing you on the best choices you can make for you and your family's health. In a collection of interviews with leading Nutritionists, Naturopaths, Scientists, M.D.'s and Medical Journalists you will discover...
How to use food as medicine
Who needs vitamins?
Is organic better?
How safe is our food?
Natural treatments for lowering Cholesterol
Foods that fight Anxiety and Depression
Natural therapies for Cancer
Which drugs might do more harm than good
The best ways to detox, lose weight and keep it off
[Also: potluck at 6:15, meditation at 5:30, yoga with Mark at 4:00]
How to use food as medicine
Who needs vitamins?
Is organic better?
How safe is our food?
Natural treatments for lowering Cholesterol
Foods that fight Anxiety and Depression
Natural therapies for Cancer
Which drugs might do more harm than good
The best ways to detox, lose weight and keep it off
[Also: potluck at 6:15, meditation at 5:30, yoga with Mark at 4:00]
7/19/2010
Angry Moms at SCC July 22, 6:30
“We are facing an obesity epidemic. This generation will be the first in the nations’ history to live shorter lives than those of their parents.” - Centers for Disease Control
Sustainable Sandhills Presents “Two Angry Moms”
Thursday, July 22nd 6:30-8:00 PM
Dempsey Student Center Sandhills Community College
Two Angry Moms shows not only what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country’s school kids. See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!
Please stay after the film for a panel discussion with local school food experts.
Sustainable Sandhills Presents “Two Angry Moms”
Thursday, July 22nd 6:30-8:00 PM
Dempsey Student Center Sandhills Community College
Two Angry Moms shows not only what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country’s school kids. See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!
Please stay after the film for a panel discussion with local school food experts.
5/19/2010
Berkeley schools serve Epic Chicken | Cafeteria Confidential: Behind the scenes in school kitchens | Grist
No more nuggets: Berkeley schools serve Epic Chicken Cafeteria Confidential: Behind the scenes in school kitchens Grist: "The Tyson nuggets are really extrusions and amalgamations of all sorts of chicken scraps, seasoned with a dose of salt and chemical additives. Factory machines shape the mix into kid-size mouthfuls that are breaded and baked assembly-line style, then frozen and shipped hundreds of miles to school kitchens. Low-skilled workers pour the frozen nuggets out of plastic bags onto sheet pans and quickly reheat them. A few minutes in a 350-degree oven is all it takes before the factory nuggets are ready to be displayed on the food service line where hungry kids scoop them up."
[How do we dare to feed much stuff to children?]
[How do we dare to feed much stuff to children?]
5/09/2010
Sustainable Sandhills Film, SCC, July 22
Thursday, July 22, 2010 6:30pm - 8:00pm Location: Sandhills Community College, Dempsey Student Center, Clement Dining Room
Two Angry Moms
Amy Kalafa was stewing for years, packing her kids lunches from home and trying to get her community to pay attention to what kids are eating in school. When news of a national child health crisis began making headlines, Amy, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, decided to take the fight to film. Two Angry Moms is Amy's quest to learn what she and other parents need to know and do to get better food in their kids' schools.
Susan Rubin had been trying for a decade to work with her district on improving school food, earning herself a reputation as a rabble-rouser with a "macrobiotic agenda" (NOT!). She's even been banned from her children's' school cafeteria! In the meantime, legions of kids continue to make a daily lunch out of neon green slushies, greasy fries and supersize cookies, imperiling not only their long-term health but also their ability to learn. Exasperated, Susan decided to reach beyond her school district, and founded Better School Food, her own grassroots organization.
Part exposé, part "how-to", Amy chronicles the efforts of Susan and other leaders in the fledgling better school food movement as they take on the system nationwide. From Chefs Alice Waters and Ann Cooper reinventing school food in Berkley California to Chef Tony Geraci's student designed meals in New Hampshire, Amy discovers programs that connect the cafeteria with the classroom and connect our kids with the earth. Over the course of a school year, we see Susan's coalition drive dramatic changes in one Westchester, NY school district.
Two Angry Moms shows not only on what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country's school kids.
See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!
Two Angry Moms
Amy Kalafa was stewing for years, packing her kids lunches from home and trying to get her community to pay attention to what kids are eating in school. When news of a national child health crisis began making headlines, Amy, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, decided to take the fight to film. Two Angry Moms is Amy's quest to learn what she and other parents need to know and do to get better food in their kids' schools.
Susan Rubin had been trying for a decade to work with her district on improving school food, earning herself a reputation as a rabble-rouser with a "macrobiotic agenda" (NOT!). She's even been banned from her children's' school cafeteria! In the meantime, legions of kids continue to make a daily lunch out of neon green slushies, greasy fries and supersize cookies, imperiling not only their long-term health but also their ability to learn. Exasperated, Susan decided to reach beyond her school district, and founded Better School Food, her own grassroots organization.
Part exposé, part "how-to", Amy chronicles the efforts of Susan and other leaders in the fledgling better school food movement as they take on the system nationwide. From Chefs Alice Waters and Ann Cooper reinventing school food in Berkley California to Chef Tony Geraci's student designed meals in New Hampshire, Amy discovers programs that connect the cafeteria with the classroom and connect our kids with the earth. Over the course of a school year, we see Susan's coalition drive dramatic changes in one Westchester, NY school district.
Two Angry Moms shows not only on what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country's school kids.
See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!
4/19/2010
UNC-TV, Food, Inc, the movie, with discussion, Apr 21
UNC-TV Will Broadcast Views on Food, Inc. at 10:35 PM on April 21
On Wednesday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast Food, Inc., a provocative documentary film about the food industry in the United States. Food, Inc. is being offered as an episode of the PBS series P.O.V. Immediately following the documentary at 10:35 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast Views on Food, Inc., a thoughtful conversation with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina Poultry Federation and the North Carolina Pork Council moderated by UNC-TV's Rob Holliday.
On Wednesday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast Food, Inc., a provocative documentary film about the food industry in the United States. Food, Inc. is being offered as an episode of the PBS series P.O.V. Immediately following the documentary at 10:35 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast Views on Food, Inc., a thoughtful conversation with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina Poultry Federation and the North Carolina Pork Council moderated by UNC-TV's Rob Holliday.
2/17/2010
1/21/2010
Monsanto's Corn Link to Organ Failure
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html
1/06/2010
Harsh, but It Makes Sense
Gary’s Note: Higher oil prices have been heralded as a sign that the economy is stirring, but James Howard Kunstler warns that the oil price is headed into a zone that destroys industrial economies, particularly the credit-based consumption economy in the U.S.
Whiskey & Gunpowder
By James Howard Kunstler
January 5, 2010
Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.
The Futility Economy
On the first business day of the new year and oil traded above $80 a barrel, which means the price has re-entered the danger zone where it can crush industrial economies. This is a central element of the predicament we find ourselves in. The US economy is essentially a Happy Motoring economy. During the whole nervous period since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, American gasoline consumption hardly went down at all, though so many other activities collapsed, from house-building to trucking. Yesterday, The Seattle Times published a story with the idiotic headline: Oil Touches $80 on US Economy, Demand Optimism. Apparently, they think high oil prices are “a good sign.”
How much can a nation not get it? Would $100 oil ignite a new orgy of “consumer” spending and another round of investment in commercial real estate? Welcome to the Futility Economy. This is the economy where Nature and its material companion, Reality, punish us for our stupidity and fecklessness. This is the economy that will tear the United States apart, after it bankrupts us at every level, and mercilessly drives the population down by one-third through starvation, homelessness, violence, disease, and sheer political cruelty.
Whatever you thought our economy was the past thirty years — whatever model of it you have in your head — that is definitely not what we are going back to. Like one of Dickens’s Yuletide ghosts, Reality is leading us by the hand into new circumstances. We resist like crazy. We throw our hands over our eyes. We don’t want to look. We want to return to the comfort of our dreary routines — living in places that aren’t worth caring about, weaving endlessly in freeway traffic, drawing a paycheck at the air-conditioned cubicle, inhaling Buffalo wings by the platterful, with periodic side-trips to the state-chartered casino where there’s always a chance of scoring a lifetime’s income on one lucky bet. And at the end of the day, you can retire with a simulated prostitute on your laptop screen! And not even have to fork over a dime — except perhaps for the Internet connection fee.
Reality is taking us out of that familiar, if sordid, realm, whether we like it or not. Our destination is an everyday economy where you rarely travel far from the place you live, where you have to make provision for you own health, your own old age, your own income, your own diet and your own education. If you’re really fortunate, some or all of these necessities can be obtained in conjunction with your neighbors in the place where you live — but don’t expect an increasingly mythical federal government to supply any of it. Expect a new and different way of organizing households based on extended families and kinship groups. Be prepared for agriculture to return to the foreground of everyday life, where farming is back at the center of the economy. Think about how you will cultivate your best role in a social network so the things you do will be truly valued by the other people who know you. Learn how to make your own music and write your own scripts. Try to study history. Keep your mind clear and your senses sharp.
Even if you have a dim sense that this is where we’re headed, most of you probably want to stay where you are. The investments we’ve made in the current mode of existence are so monumental that we can’t imagine letting go of them. This will be the theme of American life for the next couple of years as we struggle mightily to escape the confining armor of the Futility Economy and move closer to ways of life that have more of a future. Right now, all the power and authority in our culture has dedicated itself to remaining inside that old armor.
The Master Wish around the country, including among people who ought to know better, is that we can “solve” our economic problem by finding some other way to run all the cars. Even hardcore environmentalists yammer incessantly about hybrid and “plug-in” cars as the “solution” to our blues. One of Barack Obama’s first acts as president was to “save” the giant car companies. This is exactly the kind of signature behavior of a Futility Economy. It’s based on the idea that we have to continue driving cars all the time and for everything, at all costs.
The religion of the Futility Economy is Techno-Triumphalism, which is the belief that an endless sequence of magic tricks performed by shaman scientists can defeat the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which rules the universe — which true scientists ought to know cannot be defeated. Their colleagues, the shaman economists believe in parallel magic tricks, such as the idea that increased borrowing can “solve” a problem of runaway over-indebtedness. These are the actions that currently engage the people in charge of things in our society.
Given this current state of things, and the current course we’re on, my guess is that when the falsity of these ideas and actions are exposed, they will become evident not gradually but very rapidly and shockingly. The people in charge of things will lose their vested legitimacy in a flash, and the institutions they command will become irrelevant overnight. The process would be traumatic for all of us as routines we counted on for a thousand particulars of everyday life vanish or collapse. A Great Indignation will rise across the land over the perceived swindles involved. A lot of effort will go into avenging the swindles instead of rebuilding an economy out of the ashes of futility.
Regards,
James Howard Kunstler
Whiskey & Gunpowder
By James Howard Kunstler
January 5, 2010
Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.
The Futility Economy
On the first business day of the new year and oil traded above $80 a barrel, which means the price has re-entered the danger zone where it can crush industrial economies. This is a central element of the predicament we find ourselves in. The US economy is essentially a Happy Motoring economy. During the whole nervous period since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, American gasoline consumption hardly went down at all, though so many other activities collapsed, from house-building to trucking. Yesterday, The Seattle Times published a story with the idiotic headline: Oil Touches $80 on US Economy, Demand Optimism. Apparently, they think high oil prices are “a good sign.”
How much can a nation not get it? Would $100 oil ignite a new orgy of “consumer” spending and another round of investment in commercial real estate? Welcome to the Futility Economy. This is the economy where Nature and its material companion, Reality, punish us for our stupidity and fecklessness. This is the economy that will tear the United States apart, after it bankrupts us at every level, and mercilessly drives the population down by one-third through starvation, homelessness, violence, disease, and sheer political cruelty.
Whatever you thought our economy was the past thirty years — whatever model of it you have in your head — that is definitely not what we are going back to. Like one of Dickens’s Yuletide ghosts, Reality is leading us by the hand into new circumstances. We resist like crazy. We throw our hands over our eyes. We don’t want to look. We want to return to the comfort of our dreary routines — living in places that aren’t worth caring about, weaving endlessly in freeway traffic, drawing a paycheck at the air-conditioned cubicle, inhaling Buffalo wings by the platterful, with periodic side-trips to the state-chartered casino where there’s always a chance of scoring a lifetime’s income on one lucky bet. And at the end of the day, you can retire with a simulated prostitute on your laptop screen! And not even have to fork over a dime — except perhaps for the Internet connection fee.
Reality is taking us out of that familiar, if sordid, realm, whether we like it or not. Our destination is an everyday economy where you rarely travel far from the place you live, where you have to make provision for you own health, your own old age, your own income, your own diet and your own education. If you’re really fortunate, some or all of these necessities can be obtained in conjunction with your neighbors in the place where you live — but don’t expect an increasingly mythical federal government to supply any of it. Expect a new and different way of organizing households based on extended families and kinship groups. Be prepared for agriculture to return to the foreground of everyday life, where farming is back at the center of the economy. Think about how you will cultivate your best role in a social network so the things you do will be truly valued by the other people who know you. Learn how to make your own music and write your own scripts. Try to study history. Keep your mind clear and your senses sharp.
Even if you have a dim sense that this is where we’re headed, most of you probably want to stay where you are. The investments we’ve made in the current mode of existence are so monumental that we can’t imagine letting go of them. This will be the theme of American life for the next couple of years as we struggle mightily to escape the confining armor of the Futility Economy and move closer to ways of life that have more of a future. Right now, all the power and authority in our culture has dedicated itself to remaining inside that old armor.
The Master Wish around the country, including among people who ought to know better, is that we can “solve” our economic problem by finding some other way to run all the cars. Even hardcore environmentalists yammer incessantly about hybrid and “plug-in” cars as the “solution” to our blues. One of Barack Obama’s first acts as president was to “save” the giant car companies. This is exactly the kind of signature behavior of a Futility Economy. It’s based on the idea that we have to continue driving cars all the time and for everything, at all costs.
The religion of the Futility Economy is Techno-Triumphalism, which is the belief that an endless sequence of magic tricks performed by shaman scientists can defeat the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which rules the universe — which true scientists ought to know cannot be defeated. Their colleagues, the shaman economists believe in parallel magic tricks, such as the idea that increased borrowing can “solve” a problem of runaway over-indebtedness. These are the actions that currently engage the people in charge of things in our society.
Given this current state of things, and the current course we’re on, my guess is that when the falsity of these ideas and actions are exposed, they will become evident not gradually but very rapidly and shockingly. The people in charge of things will lose their vested legitimacy in a flash, and the institutions they command will become irrelevant overnight. The process would be traumatic for all of us as routines we counted on for a thousand particulars of everyday life vanish or collapse. A Great Indignation will rise across the land over the perceived swindles involved. A lot of effort will go into avenging the swindles instead of rebuilding an economy out of the ashes of futility.
Regards,
James Howard Kunstler
12/30/2009
10/18/2009
Reminder, Food, Inc. and Fresh, Oct. 20-23, Sunrise Theater
The movie "Food, Inc" is returning to the Sunrise Theater in October.
Pairing up with it is a brand new solution- and action-oriented food movie called "Fresh".
After two sell-out nights in August for the documentary "Food, Inc," the Sunrise Theater is bringing it back.
Yes, the important and much-talked-about "FOOD, INC" will make its return engagement Tues-Wed, Oct 20-21. If you didn't get to see, now is your chance, and bring a friend. If you have seen it, tell a friend.
Hard on the heels of "Food, Inc", comes another food film. The Sunrise has also booked the new movie "Fresh" for Thur-Fri, Oct 22-23 .
It's been said that if "Food, Inc" was your wake-up call, "Fresh" is a look at some of our options.
"Fresh" (see: www.freshthemovie.com).
is confirmed for Thur-Fri, Oct 22-23 on the heels of "Food Inc."
Get the dates down on your calendar. And bring a friend!
Pairing up with it is a brand new solution- and action-oriented food movie called "Fresh".
After two sell-out nights in August for the documentary "Food, Inc," the Sunrise Theater is bringing it back.
Yes, the important and much-talked-about "FOOD, INC" will make its return engagement Tues-Wed, Oct 20-21. If you didn't get to see, now is your chance, and bring a friend. If you have seen it, tell a friend.
Hard on the heels of "Food, Inc", comes another food film. The Sunrise has also booked the new movie "Fresh" for Thur-Fri, Oct 22-23 .
It's been said that if "Food, Inc" was your wake-up call, "Fresh" is a look at some of our options.
"Fresh" (see: www.freshthemovie.com).
is confirmed for Thur-Fri, Oct 22-23 on the heels of "Food Inc."
Get the dates down on your calendar. And bring a friend!
9/25/2009
9/23/2009
Pollan's In Defense of Food, on Campus
In Dairyland, Pollan's 'Food' book sparks debate - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_us/us_food_book_university
9/03/2009
Boycott Industrial Eggriculture
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-02-the-cruelty-of-industrial-egg-riculture-plus-a-tasty-recipe-for/
8/11/2009
Reminder, Aug 13, 14, Sunrise Theater
"Food, Inc. " will be screened on Thursday and Friday evenings, August 13 & 14 at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines. A big party on the green next to the theater precedes it. Please bring a friend and an appetite.
The community has coalesced around this special showing by the Sunrise Theater in a manner both surprising, inspiring and delightful. We're becoming a "foodie" community, neighbors. And the screening and panel last weekend in Fayetteville was a hit. Congratulations to Fayetteville!
This week's screenings should in Southern Pines be even more of a hit, as we're throwing a big party to go along with it.
Both screenings will be followed by a panel, community discussion and Q&A in the theater with local food and community advocates. Tickets for the film go on sale 30 minutes before showtime (possibly earlier this night - stay tuned for details) and are $5 for children under 12, and $7 for adults. For more information call theSunrise box office at 910-692-3611.
On Thursday only, August 13, opening day.... we kick it off with
"The Moore the Merrier"
A Celebration of Local Food
From 5pm 7:30pm on Thursday, August 13, come enjoy local food, wine, beer, music and more at The Moore the Merrier...
Thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of local foodie Mariah Fong, we can come to a celebration and sample local foods prepared by local chefs on the Sunrise Theater green. Visit with farmers, local craftsfolk and shopkeepers and beekeepers.
Some of the vendors/participants include: Ashten's, Chef Warren's, La Poblanita, 195, Rhett's, White Rabbit Catering, Wolcott's, Sharron Scott - Raw Chef, Moore County Farmers Market, Griffin Family Farm, Half-Acre Farm, Toole, Family Apiary, Full Circle Farm, Raven's Wing Natural Healing, Fancy Faces 4 U, Santi Yoga Studio, Java Bean Plantation and Roasting Company, Foxy Biscotti, April Fool's ...and many many more!
Come hungry, as also this local food celebration benefits the Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care, a United Way agency. (In fact, make it an afternnoon and come watch the benefit Tricycle Races before the Food Fest.) Then hustle on into the Sunrise to enjoy Food, Inc. at 7:30pm
Again,
Food, Inc. |
www.foodincmovie.com
The Sunrise Theater | (910) 692-3611 |
www.sunrisetheater.com
250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC
Thursday, August 13 7:30pm (panel discussion and Q&A to follow film) + "The Moore The Merrier"
Friday, August 14 | 7:30pm (panel discussion and Q&A to follow film)
The community has coalesced around this special showing by the Sunrise Theater in a manner both surprising, inspiring and delightful. We're becoming a "foodie" community, neighbors. And the screening and panel last weekend in Fayetteville was a hit. Congratulations to Fayetteville!
This week's screenings should in Southern Pines be even more of a hit, as we're throwing a big party to go along with it.
Both screenings will be followed by a panel, community discussion and Q&A in the theater with local food and community advocates. Tickets for the film go on sale 30 minutes before showtime (possibly earlier this night - stay tuned for details) and are $5 for children under 12, and $7 for adults. For more information call theSunrise box office at 910-692-3611.
On Thursday only, August 13, opening day.... we kick it off with
"The Moore the Merrier"
A Celebration of Local Food
From 5pm 7:30pm on Thursday, August 13, come enjoy local food, wine, beer, music and more at The Moore the Merrier...
Thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of local foodie Mariah Fong, we can come to a celebration and sample local foods prepared by local chefs on the Sunrise Theater green. Visit with farmers, local craftsfolk and shopkeepers and beekeepers.
Some of the vendors/participants include: Ashten's, Chef Warren's, La Poblanita, 195, Rhett's, White Rabbit Catering, Wolcott's, Sharron Scott - Raw Chef, Moore County Farmers Market, Griffin Family Farm, Half-Acre Farm, Toole, Family Apiary, Full Circle Farm, Raven's Wing Natural Healing, Fancy Faces 4 U, Santi Yoga Studio, Java Bean Plantation and Roasting Company, Foxy Biscotti, April Fool's ...and many many more!
Come hungry, as also this local food celebration benefits the Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care, a United Way agency. (In fact, make it an afternnoon and come watch the benefit Tricycle Races before the Food Fest.) Then hustle on into the Sunrise to enjoy Food, Inc. at 7:30pm
Again,
Food, Inc. |
www.foodincmovie.com
The Sunrise Theater | (910) 692-3611 |
www.sunrisetheater.com
250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC
Thursday, August 13 7:30pm (panel discussion and Q&A to follow film) + "The Moore The Merrier"
Friday, August 14 | 7:30pm (panel discussion and Q&A to follow film)
8/07/2009
USDA to Seek Independent Oversight of Organics
NATIONAL ORGANIC COALITION APPLAUDS USDA'S DECISION TO SEEK INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT OF NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM
Action Ensures Consistent Enforcement of Organic Standards WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 6, 2009)
At the urging of the National Organic Coalition and others, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will subject its National Organic Program (NOP) to a stringent audit and continued oversight by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In a July 29 letter addressed to the National Organic Coalition, USDA Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan underscored the value of scrutinizing the NOP to strengthen the integrity of the program and the USDA organic seal. The NOP is USDA's regulatory body that develops, implements, and administers the USDA organic seal and national standards for organic agricultural products sold in the U.S. It accredits domestic and foreign certifying agents who inspect organic production and handling operations producing organic food sold in the U.S. as compliant with USDA organic standards. NIST's National Voluntary Conformity Assessment Systems Evaluation (NVCASE) program reviews accreditation programs such as the NOP to assess their ongoing conformity with international standards for management of accreditation program through onsite audit, evaluation of office system, and oversight of record keeping, enforcement, and corrective actions.
"Third-party recognition is important for many of USDA's audit-based programs," Merrigan said in her letter to the National Organic Coalition. "We understand the value of this step as we continue working to strengthen the integrity of the NOP and to build the organic community's trust in the program." Merrigan anticipates that the NIST review will begin October 1, 2009.
"We applaud USDA's willingness to submit its organic program to the rigors of these international norms and believe this will pave the way for continued growth and success of the U.S. organic industry," said Robynn Shrader, a National Organic Coalition founding member and CEO of the National Cooperative Grocers Association. In June, the National Organic Coalition met with Merrigan to discuss the need for greater consistency in the implementation of NOP rules. The coalition proposed that the NOP apply to NIST at the U.S. Department of Commerce for recognition of its accreditation function and to make a commitment to strictly comply with NIST requirements.
"USDA's organic seal is the best guarantee for people who want to eat healthy foods grown without the use of toxic pesticides, GMOs or artificial growth hormones such as rBGH," said Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition policy coordinator.
"We anticipate that the potential changes NOP will make to earn NIST recognition will result in greater consistency and integrity in USDA organic standards, greater fairness to organic farmers and handlers, and greater consumer confidence in the USDA organic label."
The National Organic Coalition (www.nationalorganiccoalition.org) is a non-governmental alliance of organizations working to provide a "Washington voice" for farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, consumers and progressive industry members involved in organic agriculture.In order for the NOP to be recognized by the NIST NVCASE program, National Organic Coalition anticipates NOP will be required to make significant modifications to its accreditation procedures.
"We think the USDA and the entire Obama Administration have sent a clear message that maintaining and improving the integrity of the organic industry is a national priority and that the USDA will continue to build a trusting alliance with the broader organic community as the NOP grows and matures," Hoodes added.
Media contact:Liana HoodesNational Organic CoalitionCell: 914-443-5759www.NationalOrganicCoalition.orgLiana@hvc.rr.com For a pdf of this release, or for a copy of the letter from Deputy Secretary Merrigan, go to www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org
Action Ensures Consistent Enforcement of Organic Standards WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 6, 2009)
At the urging of the National Organic Coalition and others, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will subject its National Organic Program (NOP) to a stringent audit and continued oversight by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In a July 29 letter addressed to the National Organic Coalition, USDA Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan underscored the value of scrutinizing the NOP to strengthen the integrity of the program and the USDA organic seal. The NOP is USDA's regulatory body that develops, implements, and administers the USDA organic seal and national standards for organic agricultural products sold in the U.S. It accredits domestic and foreign certifying agents who inspect organic production and handling operations producing organic food sold in the U.S. as compliant with USDA organic standards. NIST's National Voluntary Conformity Assessment Systems Evaluation (NVCASE) program reviews accreditation programs such as the NOP to assess their ongoing conformity with international standards for management of accreditation program through onsite audit, evaluation of office system, and oversight of record keeping, enforcement, and corrective actions.
"Third-party recognition is important for many of USDA's audit-based programs," Merrigan said in her letter to the National Organic Coalition. "We understand the value of this step as we continue working to strengthen the integrity of the NOP and to build the organic community's trust in the program." Merrigan anticipates that the NIST review will begin October 1, 2009.
"We applaud USDA's willingness to submit its organic program to the rigors of these international norms and believe this will pave the way for continued growth and success of the U.S. organic industry," said Robynn Shrader, a National Organic Coalition founding member and CEO of the National Cooperative Grocers Association. In June, the National Organic Coalition met with Merrigan to discuss the need for greater consistency in the implementation of NOP rules. The coalition proposed that the NOP apply to NIST at the U.S. Department of Commerce for recognition of its accreditation function and to make a commitment to strictly comply with NIST requirements.
"USDA's organic seal is the best guarantee for people who want to eat healthy foods grown without the use of toxic pesticides, GMOs or artificial growth hormones such as rBGH," said Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition policy coordinator.
"We anticipate that the potential changes NOP will make to earn NIST recognition will result in greater consistency and integrity in USDA organic standards, greater fairness to organic farmers and handlers, and greater consumer confidence in the USDA organic label."
The National Organic Coalition (www.nationalorganiccoalition.org) is a non-governmental alliance of organizations working to provide a "Washington voice" for farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, consumers and progressive industry members involved in organic agriculture.In order for the NOP to be recognized by the NIST NVCASE program, National Organic Coalition anticipates NOP will be required to make significant modifications to its accreditation procedures.
"We think the USDA and the entire Obama Administration have sent a clear message that maintaining and improving the integrity of the organic industry is a national priority and that the USDA will continue to build a trusting alliance with the broader organic community as the NOP grows and matures," Hoodes added.
Media contact:Liana HoodesNational Organic CoalitionCell: 914-443-5759www.NationalOrganicCoalition.orgLiana@hvc.rr.com For a pdf of this release, or for a copy of the letter from Deputy Secretary Merrigan, go to www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org
Reminder, Aug. 13
Just a reminder to mark August 13 on your calendar. That is the date of "The Moore the Merrier" Local Food Festival that will precede the opening night of the movie Food, Inc. at the Sunrise Theater. Some of the vendors/participants include: Ashten's, Chef Warren's, La Poblanita, 195, Rhett's, White Rabbit Catering, Wolcott's, Sharron Scott - Raw Chef, Moore County Farmers Market, Griffin Family Farm, Half-Acre Farm, Toole, Family Apiary, Full Circle Farm, Raven's Wing Natural Healing, Fancy Faces 4 U, Santi Yoga Studio, Java Bean Plantation and Roasting Company, Foxy Biscotti, April Fools ...and more!
You don't want to miss this... Free admission! Come for dinner! Come for fun! Come and join the community in celebrating local food! And stay for the movie... or return for the second showing on Friday, August 14.
You don't want to miss this... Free admission! Come for dinner! Come for fun! Come and join the community in celebrating local food! And stay for the movie... or return for the second showing on Friday, August 14.
7/23/2009
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