McCormick to Clean Up

Well, I didn't see this one coming.  Apparently McCormick spices is trying to clean up and jump on board the organic bandwagon.  Full article here.

I have a few thoughts on this.  The first is this.  Yay!  Organic!  Yay!  As you could probably tell if you've read some of the entries I've posted on here, I like it when my food is made out of food and not out of product.  I like my veggies fresh and my sauces unprocessed.  I hate when people put things in my food that I don't want.  It's not part of the deal.  When you hear about things like gutter oil being used in food it can give you nightmares.  This is exactly why we need better food standards, and organic standards are just one.

But here's another thing.  Organic food is a market.  It's a very big, growing market.  So many companies want a piece of that pie.  Sometimes it's hard to even know what "organic" means when the USDA themselves has a few different terms all using "organic" that mean different things.  A lot of people are worried that "organic" is starting to lose its meaning and turn into a marketing buzzword.  I'm only half inclined to agree.  I think moving toward more environmentally friendly farming should be applauded and keeping hazardous pesticides off produce is good too.  However, I have to wonder if McCormick is doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts.

Another thing, and people will probably disagree with me on this, is the whole GMO thing.  Now, I'm not a scientist.  Far from it.  I'm just some guy writing a blog for my own amusement.  However, having looked at a few science type articles, I'm left with the impression that GMOs are not some scary big-pharma conspiracy to poison everyone.  Rather, I see at as more of a science that needs heavier regulation within the industry.  Sure, a particular modification can wind up having adverse effects.  However, modifying food has taken place all throughout recorded history.  The corn we eat today is itself a GMO.  Manipulating genes has some scary implications and we absolutely should not trust Monsanto ever, but saying something is "non GMO" shouldn't read as a gold star either.

Finally, the thing that bugs me the most is how shady the world of spice merchants is.  I'm not going to name names, but one clerk at a spice shop had a long talk with me about the various tricky methods that some merchants have of cutting their product and jacking prices.  Everything from iron shavings in rosemary to dirt in cumin.  These are sadly common methods of cost cutting.  I'm worried that McCormick isn't making these "organic" changes out of principal, but because of profit.  If that's not the case, why didn't it happen sooner?  Why did they wait until the organic market was taking off to a memetic degree?  I'm worried that they'll do whatever they can to cut corners while still being able to put "organic" and "GMO free" on their labeling.

Still a hell of a lot better than Cento, though.