Do you buy supermarket organic food?

[kfillmore]

Do you buy meat, fruit&veg, other stuff that is organic at the supermarket (eg. Safeway). We usually shop at Whole Foods and I know some people don't like them but I feel that they at least know the source of their organic food. Do those stores have integrity? I mean who polices Safeway organic chicken? What about Costco?

thanks from someone spending an awful lot of $$ at Whole Foods.

[Doodlebugsmom]

If it's labeled organic, then it must be certified by the USDA. So, the same certification process for the organics at WF are the same ones for other organic foods. Not sure how much I trust the USDA to actually be strict with their organic regulations, especially with foods produced outside of the US.

That said, the local farm from which we buy a CSA share every year is USDA certified organic. It was a very lengthy, rigorous and expensive process for them to undergo.

ETA: If you want something more than USDA certification, you can check the product to see if it's been "Oregon Tilth Certified." I buy my kids organic mild from our local Kroger. It's Kroger's brand (I think). It is certified by Oregon Tilth as well as USDA.

[mamadelbosque]

Yup. We don't have a whole foods or traders joe or something within driving distance. We just don't. So yes, I absolutely buy organics from the local supermarket - some stuff I can't get there, so I get at the way over-priced local healthfood store or (preferably!!) through my co-op. But as noted by a pp, organic is a label defined by the USDA - and all organics have to follow it. Or they can't be labeled as such. So, organic stuff from whole foods is the exact same stuff as organic stuff from giant eagle or anywhere else.

[kittywitty]

Yes. My only other option is to drive more than 3 hours away for anything else.

[EdnaMarie]

I don't trust the store, I trust the certifying agency. Whole Foods and Trader Joes sell brands that you can also find in Safeway and Fred Meyer and Costco, and charge more. The only group I'd trust more would be a local farmer's group if I knew them personally, but for a lot of people that's not an option. Or a co-op that sources directly from farmers, if you are a part of their processes. Whole Foods is really just an upscale supermarket with nice marketing, IMO.

QAI I don't trust a lot but it's better than nothing. Oregon Tilth I trust much more, though... I'm not going to lie, I haven't put a ton of research into that.

USDA contracts out certification so USDA just rubber-stamps QAI, OT, and other certifications:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic...#North_America

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams....cct=nopgeninfo

[EdnaMarie]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...mackdown/7904/

"As I had been in my own kitchen, the tasters were surprised when the results were unblinded at the end of the meal and they learned that in a number of instances they had adamantly preferred Walmart produce. And they weren’t entirely happy.

In an ideal world, people would buy their food directly from the people who grew or caught it, or grow and catch it themselves. But most people can’t do that. If there were a Walmart closer to where I live, I would probably shop there."

[Magali]

Yes I do. I live out in the middle of nowhere and have to drive 40 mins to get food, organic or otherwise.

[Mbella]

We eat probably 90% organic on one income. I definitely buy most of it at the supermarket because it is much cheaper than at Whole Foods. I shop at Stop and Shop and they have their own organic brand called Nature's Promise and it is much more affordable that the bigger brand organic food companies. Their organic produce is also less expensive than the produce at Whole Foods. I do go to Whole Foods for the things I cannot find at the grocery store. If it has the USDA organic certification you can trust that it is organic. I also prefer the Oregon Tilth certification.

[Drummer's Wife]

Yes, I mainly shop at Albertsons (since that's what I have in my area - besides walmart), and they have a pretty decent organic selection. They also have a lot of 'natural' products and gluten-free ones, too. I don't think organics are necessarily any better or more organic at a HFS than they are a regular grocery store. As it's been said, the USDA has certain criteria they have to meet.

[Martha27]

I do. We have Hannafords and Market Basket to choose from and i go to both for different things. Market Basket does Colemans organics and I dont really know that I trust it 100% but it says its USDA certified and a whole 5 lb organic chicken cost 10$ so I buy it! Market basket also has a small section of organic produce that I pick from b/c it's way cheaper than Hannafords but they don't always have everything so I do also go to Hannafords. They have a line called Natures Place or something like that and they have things like organic rice, jam, bread, etc. and "natural" chicken and beef that claims it's antibiotic and hormone free, not organic but I still choose it over conventional and there usually isnt an organic option. My first choice would be buying in bulk from local grass fed beef and poultry farmers from around here but we just moved here and havent chosen a farm to buy from or caught up financially to be able to drop 400$ on stocking the freezer just yet!

[nicky85]

We do, but we really prefer to get stuff straight from local farms via farmer's market or CSA or from our garden. We've found better deals on fruits and veggies at farmer's markets than at grocery stores in our area. My husband just planted leafy greens so we can have some of our own, which ends up being cheaper anyway. I guess we're more extreme being "locavores", but I really notice a difference in taste between stuff we buy from the farm and stuff we buy at the grocery store, even WH. Often the small farmers don't bother with getting certified organic but grow stuff without pesticides and using techniques like integrated pest management anyway. So it's not technically "organic", but we still buy it as long as we've checked out the farmer as best we can. I don't entirely trust the USDA organic certification and the grocery stores either. I figure we're taking a leap of faith whether we buy at a grocery store or at the farmer's market. But I still feel like buying organic gives me a better chance of having a healthier product than buying conventional.

[catnip]

I buy organic lettuce, fresh spinach, bread, peanut butter, quinoa and soymilk from Costco.