Organic Wal-Mart Food? Is That Real?

According to a recent OCA (Organic Consumers Association) report, "Wal-Mart is being investigated for falsely advertising conventional products as "organic." The Cornucopia Institute has discovered that a number of Wal-Mart stores are defrauding consumers by labeling products as organic that were grown with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. A formal legal complaint has been filed with the USDA asking the agency to investigate allegations of illegal "organic" food distribution by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc."

Now, I was pretty sure that WalMart didn't have consumers in mind when they made the decision to offer organic food in their grocery aisle. After all, their pattern is to obtain products from third-world countries where the labor and manufacturing costs are cheap.

So the question always was about how they are going to be able to purchase food products that meet tough USA standards, when the corresponding countries where they will be getting the products do not have, in many cases, any standards at all.

Now we know the answer. They never intended to -- they just hoped they wouldn't get caught.

So how stupid is that? You'd think they could at least wait until people got used to being able to buy organic food at WalMart before trying the old bait-and-switch number on us.

Personally, I doubted that WalMart was EVER going to be able to purchase true organic food -- from anyone anywhere, because in order to do so, they would have to change their buying practices.

Funny thing about being "green" -- it's pretty easy to tell when it's turned "brown". And I think you know what I'm talking about here!

People don't like being thought stupid -- and that is exactly what the consumer will feel when they learn that WalMart has been trying to cheat them by selling food labeled organic that isn't organic at all.

We vote with our dollars.

Now we know where NOT to shop for great organic foods.

What's that old commercial saying? "It's not NICE to fool Mother Nature!" Well, it sure isn't nice to try to fool consumers, either. I think WalMart may pay a hefty price for that -- in loss of consumer confidence. (They probably don't care about the fines. . . )

Yours for extraordinary dining -- for everyone,

Nancy
Find great organic gourmet foods -- but NOT at WalMart!