Organic: A Journalist's Quest to Discover the Truth behind Food Labeling

Peter Laufer totally misses the real issue about our food and whether we should worry about its quality. He notes this inadvertently at the beginning of the book when he admits that USDA Certified Organic food comprises about 4% of the US food supply. Anyone truly worried about the US food supply will not focus on 4% of the market, but on the 96%, the "chemical" (it calls itself "conventional") food industry which is producing what most people are eating. If the entire organic food industry was consumed by the fraud Laufer intimates, it still wouldn't make any difference. It isn't the organic farmers that are causing the 5,000 square mile dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is chemical farmers in the Midwest. It isn't organic farmers that cause Lake Erie algae blooms shutting down city water supplies, it is nitrogen runoff from chemical farms. It isn't organic farmer fraud that has caused a huge increase in health problems among our children because of exposure to toxic chemicals.His research and data collection (such as they are) do not support his "troubling conclusion[s]" at the end of his book. He didn't find any fraud. He did ask an Austrian to comment on potential fraud in Bolivia. This isn't research, this is condemnation by innuendo. The book is rife with innuendo and unsubstantiated accusations and allegations. If he truly wanted to know if his can of black beans was organic, he should have had a pesticide residue analysis done. He didn't. He didn't even seriously try to investigate the Kazakhstan walnuts, but condemned them throughout the book, assuming that we as readers would scoff at connecting "Kazakhstan" and "Organic" as he and the people that he asked about these walnuts did. His biases and prejudices may be accurate, but he neither gives any proof where these walnuts came from, nor did he have them tested for pesticide residues to see if they were indeed organic or chemical farmed. He just sneers at Kazakhstan and Bolivia as honest sources of organic food. Of course the Bolivian black beans blew up in his face when he actually went to the source, they WERE organic.He spends a lot of the book condemning Trader Joes and Quality Assurance International among others. If he feels stonewalled by these bit players in the food industry (recall the 4% contribution of organic farming to our food supply), he should try getting information from Cargill, Conagra, Monsanto, Tysons or any of the other players in the chemical food industry. Even the USDA supports them and defends them and protects them (read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma"). Their profligate use of chemicals at all phases of the food industry is astonishing.Only two parts of this book are worth reading; 1) Chapter 10 "More than Nuts or Beans" where he gets briefly honest about our food supply and 2) when he actually gets down to the ground and talks with organic farmers, which he does in Austria, Italy, Tunisia, Bolivia (most touching) and here at home in Oregon. None of these guys are making a killing, none of them are cheating, none are committing fraud, they all believe in what they are doing, whether it is the poor Bolivian farmer with his tiny plot of organic black beans or Harry MacCormack, one of my neighbors. He never visits a combined chemical/organic farm, he never visits any of the huge organic farms in California and elsewhere. He simply condemns them from a distance. He may be correct, but he has no evidence to support his suspicions.Several times I got the feeling that Peter Laufer used the excuse of gathering material for a book to charge off on his taxes vacations to Austria, Italy, and Tunisia, because the actual data that he gathered to support his innuendos and suspicions in any of those places was nil.As investigative journalism, this book is a joke. An example of good investigative journalism is Mark Shapiro, "The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products." Michael Pollan has a chatty style as Laufer does, but he includes real investigation in his books. Perhaps Peter Laufer should analyze these and other real investigative journalists if he expects to be take seriously.

This book was a very interesting inside look into the fastest growing sector of the grocery store industry: organic foods. It show how the consumer should be skeptical about trusting labels too blindly because once big business has its sights set on profits, corners are cut. I would recommend the book if you have an interest in health and how it relates to nutrition.

"Organic' was very informative and helped me to a better understanding of the meaning of the 'organic USDA' label. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in being more informed about how organic foods are ,labeled.What I disliked about the book was the way it jumped around. The Author traveled the world to gain his information but it was confusing to read a sentence where the Author was in Austria and in the next sentence he was in the USA.Would I recommend the book? For the information it contains, yes.

This book was an informative look into the process of organic labeling and the trustworthiness of other organic labels from other countries. It is interesting that some of our most popular stores for wholesome food have closed doors when it comes to investigating their labeling process.

Very interesting and illuminating regarding our food sources. The only things I can be sure about are items from my own garden or if I know the farmer personally and can trust what he tells me! An easy, very informative read.

A fascinating and entertaining read, as well as providing much useful information. He exposes much of the misinformation and conflict of interest behind the labeling of "organic" foods and dispelled my (and others') naive assumptions that "organic" means Organic. Sounds like the only way to be sure is to know the source of your food, and keep a skeptical attitude to everything else.

A uniquely, well researched book on a subject many of us are interested in today. The end results were quite surprising to me and it has changed my thinking about purchasing food stuffs that I use. Mr. Laufer's way of telling his story was very entertaining about a subject that could be somewhat boring. A quick, worthwhile read.

A thoroughly documented expose on the difficulties in growing organic foods and getting them labeled and to market in today's culture. Nice work, Dr Laufer and thank you.

I was expecting much more from this book... Everything in it could have been summed up in about 20 pages...