On Jul 01, 2007, at 9:24 pm, Keith Thomas wrote:
> Note that "organically-grown" does not mean "pesticide-free". In
> the case of pineapples,
> certain pesticides are permitted by the standards in different
> countries. For example:
>
> Soil fumigant to control nematodes.
> Fungicides to prevent root rot.
> Fertilisers are added to the soil and later sprayed on the plants.
> Insecticides to prevent and control scale and thrip.
> Chemicals are sprayed on the crops to force flowering.
>
Hmm these don't sound very organic. What extent are these used to?
And how do they compare to non-organic ones?
> Check the standards applying in the country where they were grown.
I think they are Soil Association certified (but I will double check
this), so I assumed they must follow the standards set out in the
UK. Never crossed my mind that the Soil Association would allow
different standards depending on the country of origin. I've noticed
that Tesco bacon ISN'T Soil Association branded, as it comes from
Denmark and they have lower standards for organic pork than we do. I
should probably know all this, seeing as I'm a member!!!
> Just as with apples, pears etc., there are a number of different
> varieties of pineapple, some
> are golden with an orange skin and richly sweet in flavour, others
> pale yellowish-white with
> flecked grey-green fleash, and a flavour that is weaker and less-
> sweet. It could be that the
> organic grower used a different variety from the others.
That makes sense. Although it's not very organic to grow one variety
of anything, really. I wish we got different varieties of each
fruit, but it seems people are so used to everything looking exactly
like everything else with the same label, they probably wouldn't
sell. That said, Tesco do stock TWO varieties of avocado (Hass and
Fuerte I think they are called) which are pretty different as far as
supermarket fruit go, so not all hope is lost. (Although the Fuerte
seems to be far less common, which is a shame as it's nicer I think)
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