Big Box Organic – You Are What You Eat

What starts out as an altruistic pipe dream – changing the world in some positive way, faces some tough decisions along the way – just ask Google.

A famous often-quoted saying by Margaret Mead goes “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

But what Margaret doesn’t say is how to deal with going beyond that small group of thoughtful people to deal with those who don’t share that original zeal, but are needed to carry it to others who don’t share that original zeal.

The biggest dilemma in any movement for change is scale – and keeping a semblance of the original goals intact upon hitting the mainstream. Enter the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, with plans that will change what you eat forever.

The company has announced that it will start offering organic food at just 10 percent over the cost of conventional food.

The very definition of what it means to be organic (i.e. certification by an independent third party) will become more important than ever, and face more pressure than ever now that Wal-Mart and its massive network of suppliers will be in the game. “Many of the nation's major food producers are hard at work developing organic versions of their best-selling products,” NPR reported on May 12^th, which will in turn squeeze out every inch of profit and supply chain efficiency as with every other Wal-Mart product line.

Organic products of all kinds will be introduced to a market that did not go far beyond a stable of health food stores not long ago, and become the norm rather than the exception. Parents: Wal-Mart recently offered the first organic infant formula available at a mass retailer. Further, the 800 pound retailing gorilla is introducing George Baby organic cotton clothing for infants this month, which is made with 100 percent certified organic cotton.

On the plus side, organic food and clothing will become cheaper, allowing multiples of consumers to buy healthier food on a regular basis and support healthier farming practices as a result.

Read the label: Unless a product is “100%” organic, it is not. That is, five percent of the ingredients in food labeled organic and 30 percent in those labelled “made with organic ingredients” may be nonorganic. Many revisions to these standards go unannounced, despite the tremendous public interest, as evidenced by the record 275,000 comments from the public submitted when the government was pressured to water down the standard for organic labels in 2002. “Since 2002, there have been repeated assaults on the [Organic Standards] board's authority and on the standards themselves from companies that want to reap the benefits of the organic label without the burden of higher production costs.”

When the New York Times, NPR and Consumer Reports are covering a story that means it’s news.

If you have any interest in what goes into your body, read the label.

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On a somewhat related note, Fast Food Nation – the essential book now turned film, debuts at Cannes this month. Fave director Richard Linklater, he of Slacker, Dazed and Confused and School of Rock fame, stands as the man behind the camera.

Excerpt from a Forbes magazine interview with Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser:

Q: Aren’t fast-food chains just supplying what American appetites demand?

A: The American people were not demanding chicken nuggets.

The industry has done a lot to create that demand. Also, hamburgers and fries only became the national dish after marketing made it that way following World War II.