Class #1

Update from Alan Hickman

We have the results of Saturday’s gardening quiz. The overall average for the class was 46% which is where it would be expected to be. The range was 8 - 21 correct answers.

It is a noteworthy reflection of the power of marketing and popular miss-information that 15 of the 19 papers had the wrong answer to question #4. Organic means? It is absolutely not a guarantee that the product is safe to eat. For instance, one is just as likely, perhaps slightly more likely, to get e. coli contamination on produce labelled ‘organic’ as on any other produce.

The following abstract is from an ‘Eclectic Gardener’ column.

“While promoting food as being organic by itself is about as misleading as advertising cholesterol-free broccoli, come 8th December 2008, when the Organic Products Regulations (Canadian Organic Production Systems General Principles and Management Standards CAN/CGSB 32.310 and Permitted Substances Lists CAN/CGSB 32.311) come in to full force, products carrying the Biologique Canada Organic logo will have a valid distinction.

Unfortunately and contrary to what most consumers probably believe, the industry and government officials who constructed the standards make a point of stressing that it is only the methods of production which are being regulated. The quality of the resulting products is not the focus of the legislation. Certified Biologique Canada Organic produce has to meet exactly the same standards of quality, purity and safety as the produce resulting from non-certified methods. Any Canada ‘fancy’ grade apple will meet the same standard, regardless of how or where it is grown. If it doesn’t meet the standard the apple isn’t a ‘fancy’ grade.

The framers of the legislation also state clearly that certified products are not guaranteed to be entirely free from the residues of prohibited substances or other contaminants.”