'Organic' And 'Green' Labels On Food In Thailand

[Token]

I often wonder if you can trust the 'safety' of food produced in Thailand, but especially the 'organic' and 'green' labels that you see on supermarket shelves. I guess there may be some kind of regulation for 'organic' produce but, as with other aspects of life in Thailand, who knows how these regs are monitored and implemented - or is it all just an excuse for raising the price of the produce? Anyone got any real insights into this?

[Lost in LOS]

crapshoot

I remember about 25 years ago in the US there were an abundance of health food restaurants. There was an expose, by one of the news channels, that showed the restaurateurs buying expired vegetables etc since they were really cheap and with the appearance of organic to sell in their restaurants. if you cant trust it in the US I think you might have to look twice here. [by the way, I think they all fixed it in the US after lots of fines and closures

Its pretty corrupt here and this is a good way to increase income. I am sure there a many honest ones but you might have to go to the farm to find them

[Token]

crapshoot

I remember about 25 years ago in the US there were an abundance of health food restaurants. There was an expose, by one of the news channels, that showed the restaurateurs buying expired vegetables etc since they were really cheap and with the appearance of organic to sell in their restaurants. if you cant trust it in the US I think you might have to look twice here. [by the way, I think they all fixed it in the US after lots of fines and closures

Its pretty corrupt here and this is a good way to increase income. I am sure there a many honest ones but you might have to go to the farm to find them

Nice one! Did they really buy expired veggies to make them look like organic?

[Lost in LOS]

I was in the restaurant business then [ Italian and not healthy , just good to eat] I used to see guys buying the old wilted stuff in the farmers market but never knew why until the expose. Pretty funny since they charged double in the restaurant and half price for old stuff in the market

[JurgenG]

I think I would trust the big companies, they are the one who have to the most to lose if they are caught cheating. For the small producers, I know a couple of them, they all say the same thing :"I'm an honest guy but I can tell you the guy next door is spraying pesticide when nobody's watching ..."

Now if you look in Pantip, there is a group of people who sponsor organic growers. You have to pay in advance, the growers send you regularly cartons of veggie but the catch is you can't chose. It seems to work ...

[Token]

I think I would trust the big companies, they are the one who have to the most to lose if they are caught cheating. For the small producers, I know a couple of them, they all say the same thing :"I'm an honest guy but I can tell you the guy next door is spraying pesticide when nobody's watching ..."

Now if you look in Pantip, there is a group of people who sponsor organic growers. You have to pay in advance, the growers send you regularly cartons of veggie but the catch is you can't chose. It seems to work ...

The first paragraph; maybe that's true but what kind of monitoring goes on in Thailand? Can we really take any producer, large or small, on trust alone - do they monitor like in western countries (if that does indeed happen)?

The second paragraph: I don't understand any of this.

[apetley]

My wife recently went to a seminar organised by the local Electric Company on healthy living.

She got friendly with a local producer of organic produce.

The lady told her that virtually all producers here use 'chemicals' and that she knew when an inspection was due so could give her produce a good washing to remove residue and so cheat the testing on site.

She was quite blatant about what was going on.

Wifey now buys any nice looking vegetables rather than organic and just makes sure they get the best wash before preparing to eat.

[Token]

Well even for a sceptic, it all sounds dubious. I wonder about exported organic food - that comes from Thailand and ends up on supermarket shelves in the west. And if the dubious practices occur in Thailand it must surely happen in other developing countries - and that's where western supermarkets get a lot of their organic produce!

[bina]

first of all: chemicals. chemicals are also used in organic growing of veggies and meat animals and fruit. as are hormones. however, there is a list of 'permitted' and 'forbidden' chemicals. so the word chemical is misleading. second of all: organic testing must also be done on the land itself, and again, the residues and amounts permitted depends on the area, the veggie/fruit/animal being grown/raised and the country. just washng the fruit /vegetable doesn not get rid of residues since most chemicals and other additives meant for being used on fruits and vegetables are meant to be used up til a certain time before marketing...

terminology can cause muchconfusion: free range chickens doesn not mean they are organic because they can be eating seeds/grains/bugs that have, themselves, been raised/are growing on land that is not 'organic' ; i think thais mostly have a difficult time understanding the real meaning behind 'organic' as well as other people who dont actually farm.

a growing percentage of israeli agriculture is going to organic farming/cultivating for economic (prices) reasons and also an ideological move: herbs/seeds/fruits/veggies/chickens and some milk production. thousands of thais are working daily on these farms. most of them havent a clue as to what they are doing.they just do what they are told. when i speak with them i mention that the farm they are working on is an organic farm, i use the 'no chemical' term. but they tell me that they do use chemicals and hormones. however, i know that the stuff they are using is on the permitted list (ex hubby was a guru for organic farming here)for organics. unfortunately they dont seem to be able to learn enough to take the knowlege back with them, and they dont seem to interested either.

i suppose if someone was very interested or worried, he/she could show up at a farm and ask to see the land analysis, water charts, look around to see if u see 'temec' (nasty herbacide)or other stuff lurking around in dark sheds, the farther away the produce is from its place of origan, the more difficult it is to trust if it is what it is supposed to be... and some countries seem to have a better 'track record' of trustworthiness in things-- china not being on my list at least (ex hubby was an advisor at some point, in china, and they were clueless, and shuffled lots of paper, and didnt allow him to see much of the farms he was supposed to advise... that was 7 years ago-- who knows now?)

not sure if i were to trust thailand since it doesnt seem to be an ideological move by the farmers but an economic one and therefore the 'cutting corners' version of organic is probably more popular than the 'stickler for rules' type. friends of ours brought back corn seeds (organic from here, from the farm he worked on, certified organic), but his fields are for sure not organic , being just outside korat, and the very air in the area is tainted fromt he cassava factories, there is chemical runoff, farms on either side of him spray based ont he premise that 'more is better', any idea he ever had for raising something organic was given up directly when he sowed his fields . (the corn btw was wonderful, he managed to sell at a good price as a direct marketer, not sure this year, second year round).

bina

israel