Round One wasn't really a fight, but whatever. Caught your attention, right? Elyzabethe posted about Montgomery County's trans fat ban, which inspired my post last week on the Guerrilla Nutrition Labels, which inspired her response.
Well, over on my new favorite website, Culinate, there is a review of a --I guess you could call it a debate--between food and agriculture writer Michael Pollen, and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. Apparently, Mackey impressed the Berkeley crowd with his commitment to reforming the food system. I have no doubt he's genuine, either, but this article points out some of the facts he left out of his (seriously) PowerPoint presentation. What got me especially (no surprise to anyone who heard me ramble on about Spinach and e.coli last semester) was his classification of Earthbound Farm as a group of small organic farms banding together under one brand name, allowing him to say that 78% of Whole Foods produce comes from small farms. I call bullshit. I respect Earthbound, especially considering how they handled the unwarranted attention they got from the outbreak, and yes, if you look hard on its website, you find that
Earthbound Farm certified organic produce is grown on more than 34,000 acres by about 150 dedicated farmers, who use the same organic farming methods on the smallest farm (about 5 acres) as on the largest (about 680 acres).But it never portrays itself as a collective of small, independent farms. At 680 acres, you have to be using industrial methods, albeit organic ones. It's Earthbound Farm, singular, not Farms, plural, a common mistake that even Culinate makes in its coverage. And Earthbound Farm is only one brand sold by Natural Selection Foods, "North America's leading supplier of specialty salads."
You say tomato, I say locally-grown heirloom variety tomato. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm getting hungry.