Wholesome thoughts

Last week someone brought some tasty little Clementines to work. The miniature tangerines were labelled as "organic," and purchased from Whole Foods, a high-end grocer that specializes in natural and organic choices.

It wasn't until the weekend when I was picking seeds out of my Texas Star grapefruit that it hit me: the purportedly "organic" Clementines had no seeds! How can a food be called organic--a word that is regulated by some governmental body, probably the FDA but I'll have to check the facts on that one--if it could never have existed in nature? The genetic engineering and high-tech cultivation techniques required to make the first tree bearing seedless fruit would be enough to make some of the more extreme Organicists sick.

So it seems that somewhere along the line, someone is getting duped. Maybe it's the growers, who were told by the scientists that the trees were perfectly normal but just needed some special care. Or the grocery stores, told by the growers that the marvelous sweet fruit is organic. Or the consumer, who the stores can count on to be loyal customers gung-ho about putting into their body only foods that Nature blessed. Or maybe somebody pulled a fast one on the body that regulates just what qualifies something as organic.

As for me, I've found that the Food4Less has good produce at a lower price than regular grocery stores, let alone the organic retailers. I'll eat a little ag-tech if it means I get sweeter fruits and fresher vegetables at a discount.