Posts from the "Blog" category

The Dirty Dozen lives on, writes Richard Bennett

In one corner, the USA Environmental Working Group (EWG) has recently released its annual “Shopper’s Guide“, including its annual list of fresh produce most likely to contain pesticide residues. In the other corner, the fresh produce industry, represented by the Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), provided the media with pre-release coverage as to why the Shopper’s Guide is a waste of reading time and followed up with a list of peer-reviewed studies and government reports to discredit the EWG release.
This annual stouch is becoming legendary but as I mentioned in a post on 27th March, even the high ground taken by the AFF – that the EWG claims are inaccurate, that the detected residues do not pose a food safety concern and that organic versus conventional is a non-event – does not come out entirely clean when the mud hits the fan. And communication experts tell me that a little bit of mud sticks in consumers’ memories every time, to be retrieved when they are in their local grocer or retail chain store asking themselves “What should I buy? What’s the best food for my family?”