‘Organic mommy mafia’ pushes foods based on misleading claims of health and nutrition

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“Am I going to be an outcast?” A friend, who recently moved to an upscale neighborhood in Madison, Wis., called me last week to ask if she would be able to make mommy friends if she continued feeding her children — gasp! — non-organic food.

She had just come back from the park where two mothers were discussing a recent vacation to a resort in Puerto Rico. One told the other that there, for the first time, her toddler was given Jif peanut butter. He loved it. Prior to that he had only had Whole Foods peanut butter, which (one might guess) pales in comparison for a 3-year-old palate.

When the boy came home and asked for more Jif, his mother told him it wasn’t available — that it was “Puerto Rican peanut butter.” Wrapped up in that phrase is all of the arrogance and class snobbery of the organic-food mafia. If these moms haven’t come to your neighborhood yet, just wait. It’s not just that these mothers are misinformed. Or that they fear for the safety of their children. For some of them, feeding their families organic is a status symbol.

According to a recent report by Academics Review, a nonprofit group of independent scientists, “consumers have spent hundreds of billion dollars purchasing premium-priced organic food products based on false or misleading perceptions about comparative product food-safety, nutrition and health attributes.”

Researchers found that “perceived safety concerns tied to pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and GMOs are the critical component driving sales in the organic-food sector.” Never mind that the USDA ensures the safety of our food, whether it’s conventionally grown or organic.

Time and again these safety concerns about conventional foods have been debunked.

Read the full, original article: The tyranny of the organic mommy mafia

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