There is obviously a market for organically produced foods.
The consumer, they say, is always right, so the reasons for the demand don’t matter. It exists, and when a market exists, someone will generally move to fill it.
Note that ‘generally’ is the key word. There has to come a time when pursuing a market becomes more costly than it is worth.
I find myself wondering if a lawsuit launched in the United States might not send at least a few companies into their boardrooms to discuss whether the organic market is worthwhile.
Three American groups, Moms Across America, Beyond Pesticides and the Organic Consumers Association, are suing General Mills over glyphosate residues in Nature Valley granola bars, and filed the lawsuit August 25 in the District of Columbia Superior Court.
The groups claim General Mills is misleading the public because the label on the granola bars says ‘made with 100 per cent natural whole grain oats.’
They say the word ‘natural’ misleads because Nature Valley granola bars contain trace amounts of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide.
The issue could roll through the courts for years, and that will mean massive lawyer fees for General Mills, and following U.S. news even a little tells us court settlements that are devoid of any common sense can still cost millions in imposed settlements.
Which leaves me wondering if the groups behind the lawsuit, who are all obviously pro-organic, might not be ultimately hurting their cause in the sense that companies might simply opt out of organics, since they are not willing to take the risk of being sued over crop residue.
Granted, it is something of a tight rope walk for organic food supporters.
On the one hand, you would desire to broaden the organic options consumers have.
But there needs to be a level of assurance that an organic label ensures the food is organic.
In some respects, that would seem like a bit of a moving target. In the case of processed foods, where is the line when chemicals are added to preserve a food for it to still be organic?
That, I suppose, is a question consumers must answer for themselves.
Is glyphosate residue on oats more concerning than a long list of unpronounceable additives, preservatives, and colourings added to foods for decades?
That, of course, is a question answered only by one’s particular acceptance or rejection of the assurances of safety to system provides.
But the more specific question of the possible implications of the oat-inspired lawsuit remains an intriguing one, and how the eventual answers play out in the years ahead could be equally interesting.
