If you are paying extra money for high quality food believing you're serving better for you and your family, it's time to question if you are being deceived. Unfortunately, the USDA Organic label and the grass fed meat and pasture raised egg industry prioritize profit over people. I detest to say, but this problem might just make you feel betrayed.

I've heard enough claims about organic and grass fed/pasture raised loopholes all over the internet and while not confirmed by the industry itself, my suspicion deepens. In this video, a farmer exposes the pasture raised lie. Essentially, he covers the greenwashing scam, which companies purport on the label as they are seeing more consumers buying pasture raised eggs (and meat). But they're not interested in creating a regenerative model and allowing the animals to freely roam and graze (for ruminant animals) in the pastures. It's labor-intensive and costly, yet worth it as it is superior in nutrition. However, 99% of pasture raised egg companies label with pretty pictures of chickens in the grass because only a few chickens out of thousands in a conventional factory farm house discover the openings into a pasture that will eventually convert to mud. The government's definition of 'pasture raised' doesn't require chickens to ever see the sun or step on a pasture!

The second issue I want to address is the grass fed and even grass finished scam. The farmer in the video covered a bacon industry's scheme, one industry tour he went on. They used 13 different brands and the difference was significant between the cheapest to most expensive, yet it was the same quality and the reason they did this was because labelling and price of the expensive brand would create perceived value, thinking it's better quality. There was another video I was watching, where Dr. Berg said that only 1% of 'grass-fed beef' is truly grass fed from start to finish. He says true grass fed beef would say 100% grass fed. But I don't think we can verify grass fed beef based on its label anymore! This needs to end, and that's why I initiated this petition after my skepticism was exacerbated especially the interviewed farmer video. The farmer said even grass finished beef is finished with DDGs (dried distillers grains) which is a byproduct from ethanol production. But some of that mixture isn't classified as a grain by the USDA. I wish there would be more transparency in products we know benefit our God-given temple, but the reality of these products is far from the purpose we pay extra money for.

The third issue I want to address is the USDA Organic marketing loopholes. Yes, like grass fed meat and pasture raised eggs, organic produce can be nutritious and ecologically beneficial, particularly regeneratively cultivated produce, if the product is true to its definition. However, there is concern over its lenient standards amidst the cunning marketing tactics. First and foremost, a product can be certified organic even with synthetic ingredients and some made from GMO bacteria like citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, and all the other acids. Other man made ingredients acceptable is sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate, other phosphates, ammonium bicarbonate, non-organic 'natural flavors' (yes, organic natural flavors and non-organic natural flavors are both acceptable. Natural flavors may not be so natural), calcium chloride, Vitamins A & D (truthfully, your body doesn't recognize synthetic vitamins), sometimes enriched flour with folic acid posing harm, and who knows how much more! Second, produce is often waxed with Apeel's organic version, Organipeel. That is, Bill Gates' invention of baking soda, citric acid, and plant-based mono and diglycerides in the form of wax. At least I'm hoping it's much less in heavy metals compared to conventional wax. But still, citric acid is manufactured commercially in most products and mono and diglycerides can contain perilous trans fat (not the natural and safe fat from meat and butter, but the artificial, toxic byproduct in oils). According to Apeel, they source these fatty acids from heavily processed grapeseed oil. While natural is preferable to synthetic, some natural additives should be removed. For example, carrageenan is highly processed that it's almost synthetic and studies indicate it has an inflammatory response that causes a lot of digestive upset and has the potential to trigger colon cancer. In terms of natural pesticides, USDA should only permit ones that are safe and natural because some natural pesticides have controversial side effects. A GMO fed chicken's manure could be fertilizing soil used to grow organic produce. You cannot say organic is non GMO when the soil could be infested with GMO chicken manure.

That is a lot to reform! We cannot trust what we see on the label or the grocery shelf in the US. Other countries' organic standards are different and more stringent. A lot of 'pasture raised' chicken and eggs and 'grass fed' meats really are factory farmed and cattle are given 1/6 of a parking space to move. Do you want to be paying extra for healthy labels that are nearly equivalent to conventional foods? Do you want to be eating synthetic ingredients without knowing? Do you want taken advantage of by big corporations? Do you want the organic industry to say how unclever you are behind your back? Do you want to be deceived that the fake products you're buying benefit the environment? If your answer to these questions are 'no,' then I invite you to sign this petition, and hopefully we will take this complaint to the next level and this marketing hypocrisy can be resolved for good!