I just got an email from someone about Walmart being accused of something called ‘organic fraud’. People seem to be genuinely concerned about labeling practices at a supermarket giant. It is not shocking to me, having seen what those ‘organic’ choices are at the large supermarkets, that labels are misplaced, and organic items are intermixed with conventional produce to make the presence of ‘organic’ more obvious.

From the few times I have looked for organic produce at our ‘local’ SuperTarget, I have seen some disturbing things, probably very similar to the Walmart fiasco.

While the Target prices on some of these organic items may be slightly lower than at a Natural Foods store (not necesserily Whole Foods, but also a smaller type shop), the quality of the said organic items is often ‘poor’. Most of the time it is not handled properly, and I have found it extremely unattractive - like badly bruised and rotting apples in bulk packages of 5 lbs. Old and dried out oranges in same big packaging, and other produce that shows clear evidence of being handled roughly and without much care. Maybe it’s how long it traveled, or how many times it was loaded and then unloaded only to be re-weighed and re-packaged again. Who knows?

The last time I was in the Target buying some natural cat litter, I picked up a bag of apples. The 5lb. bag of organic apples from New Zealand looked surprisingly attractive, with few bruises until I noticed that there was one apple out of the 8 or 9, which was completely rotten. Next to me was a Target employee, who was re-stocking some of the other apples in the case. I turned to him and showed him the bag of apples I found, with a completely rotten fruit. I did not know what he would do - perhaps, he would suggest that it was to be sold at a discount, or take it with him to re-package it, or even to throw away? What happened next was slightly shocking: after taking out the half-rotten apple, he picked a nice-looking fruit from the big pile of conventional apples in front of him, and put it in the bag. “There,” he said “all good now.”

I haven’t been back since. But when I do, I look forward to talking with a produce manager.