But is it necessary to eat foods with organic standards all the time? Well, ideally, yeah. (And in a perfect world the idea mixing chemicals and food would be absolutely egregious in the first place). However, if a tight wallet, lack of availability, or just unfamiliarity with the organic movement is an issue, chuck the idealism at the door and instead start out by taking on baby step #1: saying NO to the Dirty Dozen list – the worst of the worst non-organic offenders. Sounds kinda like a group of serial killers . . . (just sayin’).

Non-profit research organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) does the bad-food-news homework for us. Each year, EWG puts together a list of the most atrocious crops – the ones that are truly must-avoids in a “conventional” state due to the scary-high amounts of chemical saturation they contain. The foods change a bit from year to year, so it’s not a bad idea to bookmark a site like this to stay in the know.

Sadly, this year’s list includes many of my personal favorite natural foods – but all the more opportunity to support local organic farmers. My general rule is to look for these in organic form, and if it’s not available, I consider a different produce substitution. I take the dirty dozen pretty seriously. Not buying these foods is a statement that this adulterated form of farming is unacceptable to be considered as “food.” And by directing the demand monetarily speaking, we promote the changes in our farming standards so that organic practices may become the profitable norm.

THE 2010 DIRTY DOZEN:
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes

Two more foods I add on my “always organic list” — Soy and corn products. 90% of conventional soybeans are genetically modified, and above 60% of corn products are as well. GMO’s are a whole new level of dirty, and a person’s health is nothing to gamble.

Get the details on the “why’s” of the dirty dozen at Daily Green.

My dear Food, Inc: you do not disappoint.

Tackling some familiar concerning concepts — the inhumanity of factory farming, the danger of pesticides, the fears about genetically modified seeds — Food, Inc. connects all the dots: composing a compelling narrative regarding the loss of Americana agronomics through the introduction of corrupt business, and its consequence of destroying our health for the sake of profit. But doom and gloom is not the only message here, and the film also does an excellent job in offering simple solutions, which can promote positive change in food safety, personal health, industry economics and environmental security.

Since its opening, the film has quickly become the darling of news outlets across the US — one after another praising the message as exceptionally relevant and compelling, while packaged in a well organized, researched, and grounded medium. Food, Inc. speaks our language: It’s pretty clear we want change. It’s pretty clear we want to feel good. And we obviously want to do the right thing.

But there’s one place this love-train doesn’t run, and wouldn’t you know it, that place is Monsanto’s blog. In fact, they’ve developed a whole section of their website to trash-talk the film and the ideas of organic, local, and natural farming that it promotes. In Monsanto’s words:

Food, Inc. is a one-sided, biased film that the creators claim will “lift the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer.” . . .Throughout this film, Food, Inc.:

* Demonizes American farmers and the agriculture system responsible for feeding over 300 million people in the United States.
* Presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation while ignoring the practical demands of the American consumer and the fundamental needs of consumers around the world.
* Disregards the fact that multiple agriculture systems should – and do – coexist.

Thank you Monsanto. I do believe you have just defined hypocrisy.

Food, Inc. is a documentary that provides a crystal clear understanding of what’s really behind what we are putting on our plate and inside our mouths. Though some of the information may be hard to swallow, the “feel good” part of this flick is clearly in our choices.

You know Monsanto, right? The world’s leading producer of genetically modified seeds?

From Monsanto’s blog:
“Today totally rocked! First we bought up a bunch of new patents on nature-made, heirloom seeds — haha, you can’t plant them anymore ‘cuz we OWN them now! Then we funneled a couple hundred thousand “supportive” bucks into various pockets on Capitol Hill just to make sure we’re all on the same page. Oh, and then we had our scientists work on splicing DNA from a new strain of virus into strawberry genes. Those should be hitting the market soon. And before the day was through, we also destroyed as many farmer’s lives as we could by serving up some massive lawsuits against them. Seems that the wind blew our GM seeds from a nearby farm onto their land and those seeds grew into plants. But! Since the farmers didn’t BUY our seeds they’re infringing on our patent. LOL! (Side note: can we sue nature too?) OMG it was seriously the best day ever!!!!”

You’re right. This wasn’t quite word for word from their blog. And that’s because the blog is called “Monsanto According To Monsanto.” Exactly.

Buy organic!