Headlines

Shop Channel: Introducing "Rosie" based three cooked meals

The leading TV channel in Japan that airs mainly "Shopping" programs  by Jupitar Shop Channel Corp. has recently introduced our "Rosie-the-Organic-Chicken " in its July program(July 4 at 6:08 pm). A presentation of three cooked meals using Rosie aired on TV screen for more than ten minutes that was arranged by Kakiuchi, Tokyo.  

Three kind of meals are:

Rosie in Olive Oil in two packs with 180g

Rosie in Garlic Oil in two packs with 180g

Rosie steak with butter and lemon in one pack with 180g

with a total of 900grams per set.

These meals are packed in one gift set with a price tag of 3,900Yen. For details, please refer to the below chart although it is in Japanese characters.

2. Food Safety Issues Continue A Big Agenda

Japan Times Headlines on Food: from June to August 2002

A variety of issues on "food safety" keeps headlines in daily news such as Japan Times, the leading English daily newspaper in Japan. For example, a search engine extracts from its archive the following headlines as a word "spinach" entered. The high levels of pesticide residue found in the import from China is one of these unsafe food cases while at the same time BSE problems continue main food safetly topics in Japan

* Chemical residue found on 'matsutake' imports 
August 30, 2002

* Ministry hopes to pay for babies 
August 29, 2002

* New kids on the Aoyama block 
August 25, 2002

* DNA scholars hope to stock Siberia 'park' with mammoths 
August 20, 2002

* Itochu ordered to recall spinach 
August 14, 2002

* Toxin imperils Iran pistachio imports 
July 27, 2002

* GM crops' gene flow is a trickle not a flood 
July 4, 2002

* Even a sultan would approve 
June 30, 2002

* Stand me for a cup of sake? 
June 23, 2002

* Marubeni hit by more tainted Chinese spinach 
June 16, 2002

* Katokichi to recall Chinese spinach 
June 14, 2002

* Snow Brand to recall spinach from China unit 
June 13, 2002

* More Chinese spinach found tainted 
June 11, 2002

* Insecticide found on Lawson spinach 
June 6, 2002

Petaluma's view on Organic Standard

Contact: Randy Duranceau
707/283-2224
rduranceau@petalumapoultry.com

Organic Standards Must Sustain Public Trust

Sonoma County, CA, June 17, 2002 - - - Petaluma Poultry, the nation's first producer of certified organic chicken, opposes recent efforts by "big poultry" companies to weaken and compromise federal rules related to organic feed and free range/outdoor access. With USDA organic labeling regulations going into effect on October 21, 2002, Petaluma Poultry is upholding (and in some instances surpassing) the requirements to feed chickens organic grain and allow access to the outdoors where the birds can forage in fresh air and direct sunlight. Petaluma Poultry opposes the creation of loopholes in organic regulations because the integrity of organic food will falter and consumers will lose faith in the purity of organic products.

On behalf of the chicken industry in his home state, Congressman Nathan Deal of Georgia is asking the United States Department of Agriculture to loosen organic standards, allowing farmers to feed poultry conventional, non-organic grain while labeling their product "organically grown". Current organic regulations, strictly adhered to by Petaluma Poultry in the production of Rosie the Organic Chicken, require that farmers feed their birds a diet of certified organic feed, free of antibiotics and animal byproducts.

Last month in Austin, Texas, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), advisors to the Secretary of Agriculture, took testimony regarding the requirement that all organic poultry have access to the outdoors (i.e. raised free range). At Petaluma Poultry, the farmers raise organic chickens in spacious poultry houses with access to the outdoors. While some members of the poultry industry request modification of the outdoor access requirement to suit their economic convenience, Petaluma Poultry strongly advocates the free range practice as a humane, natural method of maintaining a flock's health.

Randy Duranceau, spokesman for Petaluma Poultry, addressed the NOSB, emphasizing that consumers consider access to the outdoors to be a key component in humane management of organically raised livestock. "The future of organic agriculture is based on the trust and confidence the consumers have in the farmers, processors, manufacturers and retailers within the organic community," commented Duranceau.

(from Petaluma　Poultry's web site)

The US Organic Market

• Estimates of consumer sales of organic food in 2000: up to $7.8 billion
• Percent of $500 billion total retail food sales that is organic: about 1%
• Growth in organic food sales each year since 1990: 20%
    – predicted growth through 2005: 18% - 22%;
    – predicted growth from 2005-2010: 12% - 18%
• Acres of US organic farmland in 2000: 2 million; Acres of US organic farmland in 1997: 1.34 million
• Largest organic category: fresh produce, with $2.2 billion in sales in 2000
• Percent of all fresh produce sales that were organic in 2000: 2.7%
• Percent of organic foods sales through the 7,000 - 8,000 natural groceries and health food stores: 55%;
    – through conventional grocers: 39%;
    – sold direct (i.e. farmers markets, community supported agriculture): 6%

Organic Farming Worldwide

• Acres of organic farmland worldwide: 42 million
• Estimates of global organic sales for 2001: up to $26 billion
• Prediction of global organic sales in 2008: $80 billion
• Government goals for organic land as a percentage of all arable land:
    – Belgium, 10% by 2010;
    – Germany, 20% by 2010;
    – Netherlands, 10% by 2010;
    – Norway, 9% by 2009;
    – United States, no goals;
    – Wales, 10% by 2005

US Research

• Percent of USDA research, both numerically and fiscally, that is organic-focused: less than one-tenth of one percent
• Number of certified organic research acres among the 886,000 research acres within the land grant system: 151 (.02%)

Who is the Organic Farmer?

• Percent of respondents to the OFRF Third Biennial Organic Farmers’ Survey who said they would like to increase sales at the local level: 77%
• Percent who said they plan to increase their volume of organic product marketed over the next two years: 74%
• Percent who plan to increase their number of acres in organic production: 56%
• Percent of organic farmer respondents with college degrees: 56%
• Percent who have pursued graduate degrees: 18%
• Percent of organic farmers surveyed who are female: 21%
• Percent of respondents who indicated that their farms are single-family operations or family partnerships: 87%
• Percent of respondents who indicated that their operations are all organic: 75%
• Percent with mixed organic and conventional operations: 24%

The Many Faces of the Organic Shopper

• Number of organic products sold by the Wal-Mart chain in German stores: 350 (including fruits and vegetables, milk products, cereal products, canned food and ready-to-serve meals)
• Percent of consumers with incomes under $12,500 who told the Economic Research Service that organic foods are “extremely important”: 30%
• Percent of consumers with incomes over $50,000 who told ERS that organic foods are “extremely important”: 14%
• Percent of Spanish-speaking consumers in South Florida who say they look for a good selection of organic and natural foods when choosing a supermarket: 67%
• Percent of English-speaking consumers in South Florida who say they look for the same: 31%
• Organic foods purchasers motivated by health and nutrition factors: 66%
• Organic foods purchasers motivated by environmental factors: 26%
• Percent of the public identified as
    – “core” organic consumers: 6%
    – “mid-level” organic consumers: 35%
    – “periphery”: 59%

Environmental Concerns of Chemical-Based Agriculture

• Miles of American rivers and streams contaminated by agricultural chemicals, erosion, and animal waste runoff: 173,000
• Percent of waterway pollution caused by agriculture: 70%
• Number of pesticides permitted to remain in milk (as of 1995): 100
• Pounds of DDT used globally since its introduction: 5 billion
• Estimates of annual pesticide use, globally: 4.5 billion to 5 billion pounds
• Percentage of soybeans grown in the US that were genetically modified; about 55% (1999 estimates)
    – corn, about 35%
    – cotton, about 50%

Sources: Nutrition Business Journal, Organic Foods Report 2001; Organic Farming Research Foundation, State of the States, Searching for the “O-Word”, Third Biennial National Organic Farmers’ Survey; US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; Foundation Ecology and Agriculture, Organic Agriculture Worldwide; Organic Monitor; Organic Newsline; Food Chemical News; The Hartman Group, Fall 2000 Organic Lifestyles Shopper Study; Natural Foods Merchandiser; Environmental Protection Agency; Wargo, John, Our Children’s Toxic Legacy (Yale University Press, 1998).; Consumer Union,Consumer Reports.

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