Is eating organic' the safer choice?

A new Consumer Reports survey shows 9 of 10 Americans want imported foods labeled with their country of origin. In 2002, Congress passed a law that mandated that all foods be labeled with their country of origin, but five years later, that regulation has only been implemented for seafood.' (CBS)

Following a string of events with imported food, consumer safety groups are calling for production location labels on all food products. 'In the wake of banned seafood from China and years of concern over mad cow-tainted beef from Europe, many consumers are worried about where their food is coming from. The tracking and tracing of products throughout the supply chain is at the centre point of discussions on the development of a competitive and sustainable food production network in Europe and beyond. The focus is especially on the organization of appropriate systems for tracking and tracing as a baseline infrastructure investment on which further quality assurance activities along the supply chain within the competitive food supply networks could build. The pressure on industry is from policy with new regulations on tracking and tracing as well as from retail groups who ask for process transparency throughout the chain. However, beyond this discussion line, the organization of tracking and tracing schemes has also a managerial dimension. This emphasizes the global relevance of tracking and tracing schemes and their role as a baseline feature for improvements in logistics efficiency, risk control and the delivery of guarantees for food safety and quality.
(http://www.asabe.org/about.html)

After 35 years of hard work, the US organic community has built a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture. Now large corporations, aided and abetted by the USDA and members of Congress, are moving to lower organic standardS and seize control.The USDA has recently announced a controversial proposal, with zero from consumers, permission to allow 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the "USDA Organic" seal. Ingredients such as food colorings derived from plants that are supposedly not "commercially available" in organic form. Several of the proposed ingredients, backed by beer giant Anheuser-Busch, and pork and food processors, represent a serious threat to organic standards, and have raised the concerns of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA).

Here are some of the issues that organic consumers need monitor:
http://organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

Organic production is a system that integrates "cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity." As such, we expect to be able to purchase 'organic' products with a sense of confidence and if forces are seeking to lower the entitlement for the labelling of organic produce, how will consumers remain informed and protected

Sustainable food systems integrate many disciplines, goals and agricultural practices. Find guides and links to sustainable agriculture information related to:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/ofp/ofp.shtml

How Do We Achieve Sustainability?

'Farmers and other agricultural thinkers have established a strong set of guiding principles for sustainability, based on stewardship and economic justice. Producers and researchers are annually increasing the pace of improvements in agro-ecology systems, making them more efficient and profitable. More Cooperative Extension offices and colleges of agriculture are endorsing sustainable practices. And every year more farmers are seeing the wisdom and rewards—both economic and personal—in these systems. (Organic products are the fastest growing grocery segment in the United States.) Little by little—one crop, one field, one family at a time—sustainable farming is taking root.

Off the farm, consumers and grassroots activists are working to create local markets and farm policies that support sustainable practices. They are working to raise consumers’ awareness about how their food is grown and processed—how plants, animals, the soil, and the water are treated. And they are working to forge stronger bonds between producers and consumers that will, in time, cement the foundations of locally and regionally self-sufficient food systems. In contrast to mono-cropped industrial megafarms that ship throughout the world, the vision of sustainable agriculture’s futurists is small to mid-size diversified farms supplying the majority of their region’s food.'

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/sustagintro.html
http://www.wri.org/biodiv/pubs_description.cfm?PubID=3053