Meatless Monday: Looking Beyond “Organic”

It seems the mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GMO) ingredients is not likely to happen anytime soon, at least in Connecticut. We came close, but at the 11th hour, the bill was eviscerated, apparently in response to industry pressure and the threat of lawsuits. Rep. Richard Roy, the original sponsor of HB 5117, has withdrawn his support for it.

Until such a bill becomes the law, those of us who wish to avoid GMOs in the food we eat should be looking beyond the “organic” label on the products we purchase. Those labeled “NON-GMO Certified” in addition to “USDA Organic”  are the best choices.

The Non-GMO Project is a “non-profit organization committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices.” In 2005, The Natural Grocery Company in Berkeley, CA and the Big Carrot Natural Food Market in Toronto joined forces to create the organization, founded with the goal of “creating a standardized meaning of non-GMO for the North American food industry.”  

The Non-GMO Project works in several different capacities to ensure the availability of non-GMO products and to help support informed choice. It offers North America’s only third party verification and labeling for non-GMO food and products. 

In order to earn the NON-GMO Project seal, every “at-risk” ingredient (one which is currently being grown in GMO form in America) is tested. Following the test, which must indicate that the ingredient is below 0.9% GMO, the Project “requires rigorous traceability and segregation practices to be followed in order to ensure that the tested ingredients are what get used in the finished product … So in short, what our seal means is that a product has been produced according to rigorous best practices for GMO avoidance, including testing of risk ingredients.” The NON-GMO Project states, “Certified organic products cannot intentionally include any GMO ingredients … You can be doubly sure if the product also has a Non-GMO Project Verified Seal.”

The group also works to educate consumers about GMOs. They urge consumers to be particularly vigilant about “at-risk” ingredients including soybeans, canola, cottonseed, corn, and sugar from sugarbeets. You can download a free Shopping Guide on the website as a pdf. The Guide is also available as a free App for your iPhone. 

The site also offers a number of action ideas. It is important to realize that as consumers we can exert a tremendous amount of power. 

Here is an example from last week. For months, a “Boycott Kashi” (cereal) campaign had been gaining momentum on Facebook and Twitter. Consumers, after discovering that the products contained some GMO ingredients, felt they had been misled by the “natural” label on the cereal boxes and called for higher standards from the company. Late in April, a Rhode Island grocer pulled the Kashi products from his shelves when he found out the cereals contained GMO soy. The boycott campaign, according to USA Today, “went viral.”

In this case, the consumers won. One week ago Kashi released this YouTube video in response:

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Happy Monday, everyone. Remember, we have the power.

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Valentine’s Day Edition

In celebration of chocolate…

I had always hoped that chocolate would someday end up on the good for you list. And it finally did — not every kind, and not in large quantities. But dark chocolate, in moderation, is indeed (at least for now) being promoted as a food with benefits for both your heart and mind.

What better post on a day where hearts proliferate and chocolate is much exchanged, than one outlining the story of chocolate and spelling out what makes one kind better than another.

What we know as chocolate has its origins in the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America, where cacao beans were so valuable that they were used as currency. Anthropologists Michael and Sophie Coe wrote a comprehensive volume, The True History of Chocolate, rich in details about a number of topics including chocolate’s significance in the Mayan and Aztec cultures, how chocolate became the rage after the explorers introduced it to Europe in a sweetened form, and the methods for chocolate’s mass production in modern times.

The Cleveland Clinic is world-renowned as a center for treatment of cardiac (heart) disease. In 2010 it published an article on its website titled “Heart-Health Benefits of Chocolate Unveiled.” In summary, the article states that chocolate is rich in flavonals, naturally-occurring compounds with a number of healthy qualities. Flavonals are rich in antioxidants, which help the body’s cells resist damage. Current research also shows that they lower blood pressure, improve blood flow to the brain and heart, and lower cholesterol. A paper presented at the April 2010 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology found that eating chocolate may lower your risk of having a stroke.  The health blog of Consumer Reports summarized a study where stressed-out subjects improved after eating a little bit of dark chocolate every day for two weeks. WOW!

But before you grab that milk-chocolate covered caramel bar, please read on. Not all chocolate is created equal. First off, the more the cocoa is processed in the making of a chocolate product, the more flavonals are lost. Until chocolate manufacturers perfect techniques that preserve these flavonals from start to finish, you are better off indulging in chocolate that is dark (rather than milk chocolate) and cocoa powder that has not been Dutch processed (treated to reduce its acidity). You should also watch out for extra ingredients that add fat or calories. The Cleveland Clinic advises enjoying a moderate amount of dark chocolate (one ounce) a few times a week, along with other foods rich in flavonoids. These choices include: apples, red wine, tea, onions, and cranberries — in moderation — particularly when it comes to wine.

Have you ever wondered how a cacao bean is transformed into that neatly-packaged bar on the store shelf? The people at Equal Exchange tell the tale in The Chocolate Journey: From Bean to Bar. There are many steps and many people involved in the process. The Smithsonian Museum offers a brief summary and a short video which concludes with some delicious-looking recipes.





As with most products, some cocoa is grown and processed in a more ethical manner than others. Chocolate labeled as “certified organic” is made of cacao grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, typically cultivated on small plots under existing forest canopy, helping to preserve biodiversity. Chocolate sold through the Fair Trade Federation guarantees a “fair price” to producers and sets rigorous, transparent social and environmental production standards. 

Global Exchange has launched the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign, pressing Hershey, one of the largest and oldest chocolate companies in the US, to join the movement and start sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa. Watch the trailer for The Dark Side of Chocolate and read the Hershey CSR report online if you want to learn more about this issue. 

Valentine’s Day is here. What should you do if you want to give your honey some good for them and good for the world chocolate? It’s not too late. Some Fair Trade and Organic bars are available in retail stores. Green & Black’s Maya Gold is one. For more ideas, check out the chocolate bar guide at GoodGuide and then see what your local store carries. Those lucky enough to have a Ten Thousand Villages store nearby can find Fair Trade chocolate there. 

In the future, when you have a little more time, check out the online stores at Equal Exchange and Global Exchange.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Remember — moderation, and take time to savor the flavor! 

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”