The Local vs Organic Debate: Is Whole Foods a Villain?

Time Magazine’s cover story last week was about a growing debate over the benefits of eating local versus eating organic food.

The “new ideal,” according to the article, is buying food as locally as possible, regardless of whether it is organic or not. It points out that being an official organic vegetable and fruit producer in the Northeast is more difficult than in California because moister conditions in the Northeast make conventional pesticide techniques more tempting.

Despite the seemingly de rigeur sarcasm (“How about organic Froot Loops? I have a weakness for Froot Loops late at night.”), the article is pretty level-headed in its analysis, capturing many of the fine points about the disconnect between buying local and buying organic—for example, the often substantial fuel costs to get organic produce to our tables, and the fact that free-range chickens on a Northeast farm are eating conventionally-grown grains.

The most grating part of the article, though, are its potshots at Whole Foods, both for promoting a “buy local” campaign when most of its foods aren’t local, and for supposedly not providing information about the originating source of its non-produce foods. As an example, the author found some pre-cooked frozen eggplants he couldn’t figure out the source of.

One thing Whole Foods does very well–at least in comparison to competitors–is provide data about the sources of its produce. Sometimes that information is inaccurate—I’ve actually reminded managers in Boston area stores that produce labeled as “Locally Grown” has, in several instances, turned out to be from California. The managers then blame the problem on the fact that produce is continually coming in from many places, and sometimes the produce people can’t keep up on the labeling front. But at least there is a consciousness there about the issue, which is missing in most other places.

As for the labeling of non-produce items, I guess I had always assumed that it didn’t matter all that much where processed frozen and canned foods originated, since the big issue with such products has more to do with the processing than the origination of the ingredients. Once you begin processing top-quality ingredients, they’re going to lose important nutritional value along the way.

I’m willing to give Whole Foods the benefit of the doubt. At least it recognizes that such distinctions are of interest to many customers, at least insofar as produce is concerned, and the chain has made a concerted effort since its early days to alert customers about the sources of local produce.

And I’m okay with the author making a mountain out of a molehill about the non-produce sourcing at Whole Foods, since overall it’s important for the mass media to continue tackling major issues around food sources.