The Kroger in Nashville is putting in a very nice wine and beer tasting area.

Kroger has really upped their game in the Memphis area...

two 100,000 square foot 'mega stores' built in Germantown and Arlington. (it's damn near a wal-mart)

and the soon to be finished 50,000+ square foot midtown store that's under construction.

they also did a really nice update to the midtown location at Poplar and Cleveland (4 million dollars worth)

but they kinda had to with Whole Foods, and Fresh Market operating 5 stores in the area now.

(06-15-2016 08:48 AM)TheEagleWay Wrote:  I could be wrong... but I remember reading that 'organic' isn't defined by the FDA.

Anyone could technically us the term organic for their products.

If its "certified" organic, then a USDA inspector had to certify the farm for organic. However, I'm not sure if the use of the term "organic" is restricted in of itself, but "certified organic" is.

If it's sold in a grocery store, I doubt seriously the entire process would qualify as "organic". Organic technically describes the entire process, form the ground, growing, harvesting, and packaging. True organic is so much more expensive that I cant see it being a viable product in a normal grocery store. Some part of the process is probably not organic.

A major problem with organic and even pesticide free is that, if the farm is anywhere near a farm that sprays pesticides, the organic farm will also pick up some of the pesticides. If the organic produce is shipped or comes into contact with produce that had pesticides, then the organic will pick that up as well.

The organic label is just another way to separate a fool from their money.

Organic individual products, like produce, have to meet 95% of the USDA standards. For products like corn chips it's only 70%.


Then not to mention the fact that organic foods aren't any more nutritious than non-organics, and in just about every case the environmental footprint to get this organic food to the market is massive compared to buying local.

(06-14-2016 03:19 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(06-14-2016 03:04 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(06-14-2016 02:39 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  people who eat organic under the guise of food safety have no idea what they are talking about. They are basically paying a premium to increase their odds of getting salmonella and listeria.

"Organic" is pretty much a marketing slogan to justify higher prices, IMO. Only things I would even possibly consider eating organic are fruits where the skin is eaten, etc. Even then it's impossible to know if what a producer says is organic is really in fact organic.

what you want to look for on that is "pesticide-free." (And then hope the seller is honest about that.)

There's no way I'd eat any leafy vegetables that were grown "organically", as you might as well swallow a glass of salmonella while you are at it. And the organic category actually allows a pesticide to be used, and its a nasty one. Its kind of hypocritical. They dont allow manure to be irradiated to remove salmonella and other diseases, but they allow a natural pesticide, which is quite powerful, to be used.

Organic fruits that are grown on trees, which would be a safe distance from the ground, are safer as long as they dont use that pesticide which is allowed on them.

I just dont see how you can run a pesticide-free farm and actually make any money, even if you charged twice as much... I would think that only 25% of your crop would survive the summer.

That pesticide they use is nasty, for a natural product. And they have to use twice as much of it because its not as effective as what they would normally use.

Too bad DDT killed birds and caused cancer... That stuff was like amazing at killing the insect population.

(06-15-2016 12:12 PM)muffinman Wrote:  

(06-14-2016 03:19 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(06-14-2016 03:04 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(06-14-2016 02:39 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  people who eat organic under the guise of food safety have no idea what they are talking about. They are basically paying a premium to increase their odds of getting salmonella and listeria.

"Organic" is pretty much a marketing slogan to justify higher prices, IMO. Only things I would even possibly consider eating organic are fruits where the skin is eaten, etc. Even then it's impossible to know if what a producer says is organic is really in fact organic.

what you want to look for on that is "pesticide-free." (And then hope the seller is honest about that.)

There's no way I'd eat any leafy vegetables that were grown "organically", as you might as well swallow a glass of salmonella while you are at it. And the organic category actually allows a pesticide to be used, and its a nasty one. Its kind of hypocritical. They dont allow manure to be irradiated to remove salmonella and other diseases, but they allow a natural pesticide, which is quite powerful, to be used.

Organic fruits that are grown on trees, which would be a safe distance from the ground, are safer as long as they dont use that pesticide which is allowed on them.

I just dont see how you can run a pesticide-free farm and actually make any money, even if you charged twice as much... I would think that only 25% of your crop would survive the summer.

That pesticide they use is nasty, for a natural product. And they have to use twice as much of it because its not as effective as what they would normally use.

Too bad DDT killed birds and caused cancer... That stuff was like amazing at killing the insect population.

Hydroponic greenhouse growing can get around pesticides altogether, by using screening and intrusion blocking methods. If some aphids / pests do get in, beneficial insects will do the trick. (Ladybugs and wasps)

In my own garden outside, I have seen aphids, thrips, and spider mites. But they were isolated to a single plant here or there, and the beneficial insect population takes care of them fairly quickly. I used to grow ornamental plants on a wholesale scale, and for those plants I would occasionally use neem oil. Neem oil doesnt kill the pests (and therefore doesnt kill the beneficial insects) they simply cause the pests to starve to death before eating a leaf sprayed with it. They do have a form of neem oil for garden vegetable plants, and its supposedly safe, but I have never had to use it on the garden plants.

But no doubt that if you grow ag-produce on a large scale outside, pest control prevention (verses treatment) is going to be the objective.