Nelson: It's Organic - Trust Me!

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There's a misconception about the label "Organic" in BC: like people generally think its use is restricted through some rule. And another: that the label "Organic" automatically means 100%. Pure.
Not so!

I will take a look at bulk food-stuffs labeled Organic, in Nelson only. This, while recognizing that there seemingly also exists an "Organic-labeling" issue with a wide variety of bottled, boxed and bagged products - like young-forever potions.
In BC you can call/label anything you grow/produce and sell in the province Organic. (We're a tad behind in all this, and efforts have been afoot for a long time to change it.) BUT! If you do, and anyone asks for proof - from customers to high-level organisms - you must be able to provide certification on the spot that your stuff indeed is organic! If you don't have it - there may be life-changing ramifications. Voluntary compliance and not really.
Yet there probably are those who know that no inspectors roam freely - and work that lack of oversight! Organic money! Supervising agencies will take action upon written request!
All a bit convoluted, confusing and - yes -lax.

Certification can only be provided by a Certifying Body (CB). There are lots of those around - usually for-profit organizations. Certification does not address the quality of the product but only its organicness as such, as well as permissible non-organic ingredients and their complementary integrity.
CBs have to be accredited by even higher-level organisms, to be allowed to certify. The same organisms which have this drawn-out tussle with each other over righteous across-the-board use of the Organic label.

This does not apply to general lists of ingredients on sealed packaging; they are a must - a different universe - and the CB usually is part of the list.

Organic bulk food-stuffs - brought in over the provincial/national border - automatically have to be certified before they are allowed in the BC-retailers' bins, and labels on containers then must list names of CBs, or - with produce - labels on shelves and/or individual pieces/bunches identify CBs. In theory. It would seem reasonable that the retailer does the same with organic BC-originated food-stuffs.

Organic liquid-bulk items from the outside - with several ingredients - do not need to list all ingredients on the shelf-container, but here also the list must be readily available. Whether a single- or multi-ingredient item - they all must list the CB's name and usually show the country of origin.

All this is critical at the Kootenay Co-op, for instance, which - for example(s) here - offers bulk olive oil from Argentina, Canola oil, tamari sauce and agave syrup - all organic. Critical why?

Organic olive oil:
Much has been said - even written in books! - about multi-source/quality olive-oil shenanigans across Europe and North Africa.
Organic Canola (rapeseed) oil:
There is controversy - in terms of GM seeds, euricic acid (a toxin), the oil's nutritional benefits at various stages. And currently the demand for commercial rapeseed (Canola) oil in Asia is so high that many Canadian farmers are switching to growing rape. Where/how that leaves organic crops is a guessing-game. Probably down-wind!
Organic tamari sauce:
As a multi-ingredient item, ingredient-info on the label to inform/assure the potential customer would seem the way to go.
Organic agave syrup:
There also is controversy around this as a particularly potent sweetener - as claimed - and its source: usually a byproduct of commercial tequila production.

Thus - providing products such as these with a sort-of Good-Housekeeping Seal of Approval - in form of the CB's name - may instill some trust in the potential buyer. Unless just having something labeled Organic does it for you. That and the Co-op's own You-Can-Trust-Us mantra.
Potential customers - if waking-up from their blind acceptance of a food item just because it's labeled Organic (and significantly pricier - sure proof that it really is organic!) - could/should have questions about the Co-op's liquid-bulk items. And the Co-op should not rely on its local sacred-cow status, letting informative labeling slide!

I am here not questioning the organicness of the product, but not at least supplying CBs' names on the liquid-bulk labels is very clearly a very basic very no-no!
Which the Co-op hadn't, until a very recent nudge made the store come-up with new labels just like that: now they actually do state the CBs, as opposed to only Certified Organic. A step - yes - but only one and not providing any background noise.

Aside from possibly some of those concerns above: what if CBs are based outside Canada, as those certifying imports usually are?
And what if an item like rapeseeds was imported from Canada by the US, there combined with US seeds, turned into Canola, bottled and labeled as an organic American product and exported to Canada? Interested to know?
The Spectrum people in the States - main supplier to the Co-op of various bottled oils - do this. And if you have a question, you can't send it to the e-mail address provided on the label, because it doesn't work in Canada! But if you - circuitously - do get to them by e-mail, it's: Hello, my name is Sunshine, and we take your concerns very seriously.

The Co-op - as local food-leader-presumptive - ought to provide info on how it all works. Everything! Particularly as rules can be confusing, and changes - though at a glacial pace - do occur! Go educational, past breathlessly announced cooking-classes in the new store! The monthly newsletter should be a forum for this. And member/owners(!) ought to be able to see the storage area - backstage!

Basic info on the chemical composition of plastic containers these liquids are stored in on the shelves could/should be useful to those interested in the beyond of Organic.
What about chemical compatibility of plastic containers and contents? And over time?
What/how many containers have any of these out-of-province/imported liquids been collected/prepared/shipped in before they landed in the Co-op's receiving/storage area to - one last time - be transferred to the shelf-container?
Not only growth but production, storage, shipping, transfer, shelving-refilling: they all are part of a certification-process. You wash your hands?

The nudge prompting the change of liquid-bulk labels should have - but did not - include the labeling of solid-bulk. Labels range from Certified Organic over Organic to Organic-with-a-maple-leaf, this seemingly meaning Canadian Organic. Only a few mention the grower and/or place of origin; none mention the CB. Why not? And why only Organic but not all Certified Organic? Commercial bulk generally is just named and priced.
There are dulse flakes Certified Organic. Yet these flakes presumably originated in an ocean as a "seaweed", instead of a closed growing-environment (a dulse-flake farm?); the scenario reminds me of a special the Co-op ran a while ago of gluten-free chocolate chips!
CB THIS! They'll swallow anything!

Neither did the nudge prompt a change in the produce department: labels on shelves always say Organic (printed on a standard label), the price and possibly Cali or Mex written in. That's it! Larger individual pieces of fruit/veg may bear a sticker with the pieces' place of origin, Organic or Certified Organic and may/may not identify a CB. Too much may. Stickers are very small, with very tiny printing, and their info is not reflected on the standard, more easily read shelf-labels.
Bunches of veg usually - not always - carry a label with grower/CB info on the rubber-band/wire-tie keeping them bunched - California's got this handled
Other bulk-fruit/veg are just identified by the in-house standard Organic label - sometimes with the place of origin - on the shelf only.

At the Kootenay Co-op, the in-house Organic-labeling process - as mandated - is being applied inconsistently. Why is much organic produce not certified? A uniform, nailed-down approach to Organic and labeling seems advisable.                            

Many - reading this - may by now tut-tut: Yeah, but what about Ellison's and Save-on? I'll get to them, though probably less lengthily. Here's why.

The Co-op - even under ordinary circumstances - is rather self-importantly self-promoting. The intended relocation - thus necessary reliance on multi-level member-help - puts it out there even more. And well it should! So - it may be a good idea to do the dishes before the neighbors come over!

Then - there was the egg-thing a while ago, when Jon Steinman found out that eggs the Co-op had been selling as free-range and free of hormones and medication at a hefty price for ages - in fact weren't. Never had been! Even with some kind of certification locked-in. Thus there are those who may - certainly ought to - say to themselves and the Co-op: If they/you have no control over eggs from down the block, how can I trust your certified bulk olive oil from Argentina?
The Co-op's handling of the affair showed little integrity: consistently spreading blame and not once accepting responsibility for being the end of the supply-line - the retailer, dealing directly with the customer. Taking responsibility for its product. And all the money made with these eggs was not mentioned once!
Did any of those in the Co-op's gluten-free-beam glow - putting down 6 bucks a dozen regularly - ever wonder (and ask!) why these eggs neither in taste nor color seemed different from commercial eggs, at half the price?
Yes?
Anyone?

That's why I look at the Co-op more closely, lengthily.

Save-on's organic-labeling practices are simple. Most of their produce identifies Certified Organic, grower, CB and country of origin - usually California - through the grower. Most.
Save-on and the Co-op share a Californian produce-supplier. So there goes being down on organic mega-agros!
The organic dry-bulk section is elementary. Every bin is labeled the same way: Organic Whatever and price. Period! Which - in itself - doesn't necessarily make Whatever here less organic than Whatever there.

Ellison's labels Organic and Certified Organic on the produce-shelf and in bins; produce and fruit may have the tiny sticker/label. But there are no CBs on in-house labels.
So an obvious question is why some food supposedly has been certified but no CB is mentioned, and other food - supposedly organic - was not certified.
There are oranges stickered Organic, while the bin says Certified Organic. There are bananas from Mexico, identified by sticker and bin-label as Organic, but with the rule being that there needs to be a CB involved for cross-border certification.....
Dry bulk-stuffs are consistently identified as Organic on their bin - there is no certification. Few places of origin.
Like Save-on.
Like the Co-op.

If you have been hanging-in here with me this long, you may wonder: Is this worth all the attention? Well, there's more beyond Organic-The Reality Show than superficial feel-good convenience: after all, you are what you are prepared to swallow.
We've - indeed - come a long way (the right way?) since Organic entered our consciousness, stomach and feeling of well-being. We wanted and - seemingly - found yearned-for purity in our most basic support-system. With its growth the movement became more complex, more profit-oriented - thus less pure. Calling for regulation - control. Some countries - including Quebec - handled this relatively quickly and responsibly. BC not so much! With a lot of toing-and-froing around establishing, maintaining a food-supply system in BC with integrity overall, the process often seems unclear and confusing.
All three retailers mentioned show a lack of clear customer-focused labeling-concern. Therefore, consumers need to become proactive and demand it: nudging retailers to establish uniform user-focused product- and product-marketing standards. Nudging them to constantly become better informed and inform.

While the Kootenay Co-op tells us what we need (the other two don't!), it ought to make very clear why. Pseudo-spiritual woo-woo leaves me hungry for a bite of integrity!

           
                                             



                                                            Pacific Agricultural Certification Society

                                                         in Vernon BC

                                                                                        
                                    Introduction To Certified Organic Farming
                                                                     by Resource Efficient Agricultural Production - Canada

                                      Canadian Organic Retailing Practices - Manual and Guide
                                                           by Organic Trade Association of Canada (OTA)




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