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EcoMeme: It’s What’s Inside That Counts (Especially With Food & Drink)

Lora Kolodny — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:24:36 +0000

Would champagne by any other name taste as sweet? Or toasty, citrusy, maybe nutty with notes of baked honey, caramel and coffee? Maybe. But the world likes to think not. “Champagne” (like Bordeaux, and Camembert cheese) is protected. In most countries it is illegal to label anything but wines hailing from the official winemaking region or “appellation” of Champagne as champagne.

The governing bodies in charge of protecting the wine include: the INAO institute, which administers the appéllation d’origine contrÃ´lée (A.O.C.) law, the Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne (C.I.V.C.) which makes rules about viticulture, cultivation of grapes and production of champagne, along with plain old customs officials.

But they can’t stop recessionista party hosts, or fraudulent bar managers from pouring imitation bubbly to reap savings or profits this New Year’s Eve.

This week, the blogosphere has been abuzz about food and drink fraud. And not just because it’s time to pop the cork. Twelfth grade science students at Trinity School in Manhattan, Brenda Tan and Matt Cost, DNA tested everything from tilapia to tuna. Their informal study found 11 of 66 food products around their homes were not made of what the labels claimed.

Two examples: a package claiming “yellow catfish” was actually comprised of the invasive species, walking catfish; and a piece of sheep’s milk cheese was in fact from cow’s milk.

DNA testing could be used by food safety inspectors and police to thwart food fraud. But it’s not just about the money.

Fraudulent labeling also covers up the continued slaughter of endangered species, both plants and animals, that have protected status. And mislabeled foods can cause allergic reactions, even death to people or pets.

Read up on recent food labeling scandals, and use the resources below to understand what’s going into your favorite snack, meal or on the menu.

Basic Reading:

The U.S. Food And Drug Administration’s “backgrounder” on food labeling and nutrition for consumers and industry professionals

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service site, including a database of plants and animals on the endangered species list

“Whether you want to know where your beef’s been for philosophical or health reasons, this web-based tool [from The Green Guide] will give you some insight. For instance, if the package bears a stamp reading “˜USDA Organic,’ you know the cow was fed only 100% organic grass, grain and corn… [or] if your steak comes from a cow that may have been given growth hormones, or your burger contains the remnants of antibiotics given to an ill animal.”- Lifehacker

“For far too long, some of the world’s biggest food manufacturers have designed their labels either to exaggerate the amount of healthy ingredients, or to imply that the food has magical, drug-like qualities that could prevent or treat various health problems,” said Center for Science in the Public Interest legal affairs director Bruce Silverglade. – A Dec. 2009 advocates’ report on false, if legal, food labeling

“Following several cork-popping years of record-breaking shipments (and some might say price gouging) to the U.S., the Champagne Bureau is reporting a slump. It’s hangover time. US sales of imported bubbly have gone flat in 2009 dropping 41.2% from January to August… There are currently more than 1 billion bottles all dressed up with nowhere to go, sitting in warehouses all over the Champagne region of France.” – A Walletpop guide to affordable, authentic champagne

Further Resources:

The official home page of the eco-gastronomic non-profit Slow Food Interational

The official home page of the U.K.’s Food Standards Agency including many news items on food labeling and nutrition

The official home page of the California Certified Organic Farmers

The New Yorker’s Dec. 2009 profile of Whole Foods founder and food activist, John Mackey

A Fooducate blog post criticizing Nestle and the F.D.A.

This is the 9th installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by Lora Kolodny.

Image: nlmAdestiny

The post EcoMeme: It’s What’s Inside That Counts (Especially With Food & Drink) appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Trail to the Tastiest Organic Red Wines from a Certified Grape Goddess

Luanne Bradley — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:00:41 +0000

“You could consider me the goddess of organic wine because of my longevity,” says a tres enthusiastic Veronique Raskin of The Organic Wine Company in San Rafael, Calif. “I’ve been at it for 30 years so I should know a couple of things.”

The French native and head cheerleader for the benefits of organic helped uncork the notion of drinking naturally-farmed grape back in 1979. That’s when she brought the first shipment to the U.S. from her family’s 200 year-old vineyard, Bousquette, located in the Languedoc region which borders Provence in the south and produces one-third of France’s grapes.

“Back in the 60s, people with small family properties handed down from generation to generation took notice of the damage done by pesticides and herbicides and began looking for alternatives. We decided non-organic had no future and conventional wine was damaging to the earth, the people working the earth, and down the stream to the public.”

Much has changed since those days in 1979 when she shopped her Chateau Bousquette to wine merchants in the Bay Area, singing the praises of its purity.

“I remember I took a bottle into a store called Mr. Liquor. I was this idealistic 30-year-old, and so excited to share the only wine I could drink without getting a headache,” she recalls. “The owner looked at me and said, ‘Lady, my customers don’t give a s…t what is in their wine!’ I stood there gasping and didn’t have a comeback. I was so stunned someone would say even if wine contains poison, people don’t care.”

Now that people do care, Veronique Makes it her mission to get the public to seek out wines that are Certified Organic, which guarantees the producer is following strict organic regulations for farming without synthetic chemicals.

She warns us to steer clear of empty references: sustainable practices, ecological development, long term planning and reasonable farming. These are frequently dictated by the greenwashing of the business to keep up with marketing trends.

This wine expert also says the sulfites in wine issue can be extremely confusing and blown out of proportion in a way that can cause public hysteria.

“Sulfites are naturally occurring in wine as result of fermentation, so it’s about adding a minimal amount to supplement what is there already,” she says, sighing about this overheated topic.

“A small part of the population, mostly asthmatics, are allergic to sulfites and should be warned with labels,” she explains. “But the majority of unpleasant complications are not due to sulfites but the other chemicals added. People should be concerned about pesticides that kill us and cause diseases. Focusing on sulfites is just a distraction.”

Apres the fine education comes the fine selection. I’m toasting this part because the woman knows from organic reds.

She has been carefully selecting labels for the past 20 years, importing and selling only those wines certified in their country of origin. In terms of the vintage, Veronique finds this mostly applies to rare wines that are generally out of our reach, unless you’re a collector with big bucks and a cellar.

“There it can make the difference between a simply good wine and a fabulous one,” she says. “This is very much the case in the Bordeaux region where the weather can radically alter the growing conditions from one year to the next.”

In guiding the rest of us (those without big bucks or a cellar), Veronique has created a virtual organic wine 101 course at her website – with information based on the great depth of knowledge gained over the years.

Her mission is to foster a community that sees the importance of drinking and enjoying organic. “We’re not just merchants, but passionate, idealistic people who happen to be running a business,” she says.

I asked her to get down to business and give us the dirt on the best organic reds for sharing with friends over dinner or giving as gifts.

The list comes with these savvy tips:

1. Let the bottle breathe. “It’s like stretching your body when you are in tight clothing.”

2. Drink red wine with food. It’s how Europeans do it, and for good reason. The more you taste the food, the more you taste the wine, and they enhance each other. “Wine is nourishment to me. I drink two glasses every day,” she says. “My family drinks with lunch but I don’t because I’m now part American.”

3. Share red wine with friends. “It is meant to help us relax and partake of each other’s company, to open up the heart and enjoy sharing. That’s why the typical visual of wine is around the table with friends. Jesus did that with his disciples all of the time. Wine comes from the depth of the earth and grapes are the quintessential symbol of transformation.”

Veronique Raskin

Here is the goddess’s guide to delicious and affordable organic red wines, some of which can be purchased through her site.

Languedoc Region

Chateau Bousquette, Prestige $27

Chateau Bousquette, $18

Chateau Veronique, $15

Mas de Janiny Cabernet, $30

Mas de Janiny Syrah, $20

La Marouette Cabernet, $13.99

Rhone Region

Domaine des Cedres, $15

Cotes du Ventoux, $10.99