Free-Range Food Labels: Can My Groceries Really Help The Planet?
Life Kit
NPR
4.5 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- "Natural" or "sustainable" labels have no legal standard.
- "Organic" means it's better for the planet, but may not be better for you.
- Non-GMO is not organic. The food was still grown with pesticides.
- Labels like "Animal Welfare Approved" mean the animals got to live outdoors.
- "Fair Trade" products deliver a little extra money to small farmers in cooperatives.
- Don't let labels stress you out. When it comes to solving the world's problems, your shopping decisions aren't nearly as important as your political decisions.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's take a walk through the grocery store. |
| 0:04.0 | Past the boxes of cereal, the cartons of milk and eggs, |
| 0:08.0 | and you know they're talking to us with labels that proclaim their virtues. |
| 0:12.0 | Organic Pasture Reh. |
| 0:14.0 | H3 Non-GMO |
| 0:16.0 | I'm Dan Charles. I cover food and farming for NPR. |
| 0:19.0 | And I'm wondering what should I make of all these labels? |
| 0:23.0 | A lot of you apparently have been wondering the same thing. |
| 0:26.0 | What does organic, what does that really mean when it says all natural? |
| 0:30.0 | What does that mean? |
| 0:32.0 | What does it mean if it's non genetically modified? Is that better than? |
| 0:36.0 | Some is it worse organic? Like are there different levels to it? |
| 0:40.0 | It just seems like such a big broad umbrella term. |
| 0:44.0 | I want to know the answers. |
| 0:47.0 | Because it does matter how foods grow. |
| 0:50.0 | Farming is connected to all kinds of environmental problems. |
| 0:53.0 | Pesticides, polluted rivers, disappearing habitat for wildlife. |
| 0:58.0 | I don't want to make it worse. |
| 1:00.0 | I want to do right by the chickens and cows. I want food that's healthy. |
| 1:04.0 | But these labels, all natural, sustainable bird friendly. |
| 1:08.0 | Experts agree it's a mess out there in the grocery store. |
| 1:12.0 | I sometimes jokingly refer to it as the NASCarring of our food. |
... |
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