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Essential oils demonstration provides natural health solutions

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With an increasing emphasis on improving personal health, some individuals have sought alternatives for prescription supplements. Essential oils, composed of compounds extracted from plants, provide a natural approach to treating ailments.

As a local marketing partner, Rachel DeRocha Ayres Hamill has worked with doTERRA essential oils for over five years. Hamill regularly holds informational classes for essential oils at Black Dog Coffee Company and other locations in the area. At a class hosted by Hamill at Black Dog on Tuesday, participants could make their own essential oil roller.

When her infant daughter developed the respiratory syncytial virus, Hamill did everything she could to make her child healthy again. After visiting a doctor, she reached out to a friend who knew more about essential oils.

“She was just a few months old, and we did all we could,” Hamill said. “What was nice was that we were able to use the oils to help her heal much faster. In a lot of cases with RSV, children have to be hospitalized. The pediatrician was really impressed with how quickly she was able to come over it.”

Seeing the benefits firsthand, Hamill began researching the effectiveness of oils in comparison with standard medications. She now implements the use of essential oils with her family, co-workers and friends and teaches the benefits of essential oils in her classes.

“There’s a lot of research that goes into it, and people get a better experience with the oils if someone is there to show them what they are and how to use them,” Hamill said. “We want people to have the knowledge behind it so people can do it safely and effectively.”

Just as with most individuals trying essential oils for the first time, Hamill’s husband, James, was initially wary until he found success with an essential oil lotion.

“The relief with him was so quick and effective that he started opening up a little bit,” Hamill said. “Now, he’s the one who sets up our kids’ diffusers at bedtime and snatches my oils.”

Essential oils can be used for aromatics or topical and internal solutions. Although essential oils can address both the side effects and root causes for major health complications like high blood pressure and arthritis, many people who try the oils struggle to see results immediately since prolonged use of the oils is needed.

“For anyone on the fence, I just encourage them to try it with something they can see results with,” Hamill said. “Just like with regular medications, you have to be consistent for long periods of time for long-term health issues. I encourage people to first try the oils with something minimal like mood changes or viruses so they can see the benefits and believe in the product.”

Hamill does not advocate for the absolute desertion of doctor visits but rather for a solution to common issues without the use of prescription medication. With the various synthetics, side effects and costs associated with traditional medicine, Hamill hopes that the promotion of essential oils will create a healthier society.

“People are more aware of the side effects of some of the medicines are having us on us,” Hamill said. “For my grandparents’ age group, they fully accepted whatever the doctor said. Now we’re seeing what some of these medicines have done to people over time. In our area, because of the opioid epidemic, people are even scared to try pain pills, so they’re looking for natural solutions.”

Essential oils, rollers and diffuser necklaces and bracelets can be found at the Black Dog Coffee Company.

To contact Hamill for more information regarding essential oils and its products, individuals can visit mydoterra.com/racheldahamill.

Source: The Journal by Mikayla Hamrick

Researchers identify two new compounds in cannabis

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Cannabinoids are a class of chemical compounds found in marijuana, boasting varying degrees of psychoactivity and with different effects on humans.

Aside from the well-known cannabidiol (known as CBD, discovered in 1940) and tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC, isolated in 1964), researchers believe there are at least 111 more cannabinoids identified in the cannabis Sativa plant.

Now, a team of Italian scientists has discovered two new compounds produced in the cannabis plant.

Published in Scientific Reports, their research identifies the two new cannabinoids as tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP) and cannabidiphorol (CBDP).

THCP appears to induce hypomotility, analgesia, catalepsy and decreased rectal temperature, indicating its similarity with THC, although it is currently unknown whether the newly discovered compound has psychoactive properties. Appears to be 30 times more potent than THC

“In our opinion, this compound should be included in the list of the main phytocannabinoids to be determined for a correct evaluation of the pharmacological effect of the cannabis extracts administered to patients,” note the authors of the study.

“In fact, we believe that the discovery of an extremely potent THC-like phytocannabinoid may shed light on several pharmacological effects not ascribable solely to THC.”

On the other hand, CBDP was identified as a cousin of CBD, popular in wellness products across the globe.

However, the amounts scientists found of both THCP and CBDP during their study were low. They suggest there might be higher levels of both compounds in other strains of marijuana.

“A number of clinical trials and a growing body of literature provide real evidence of the pharmacological potential of cannabis and cannabinoids on a wide range of disorders from sleep to anxiety, multiple sclerosis, autism, and neuropathic pain. In particular, being the most potent psychotropic cannabinoid, Δ9-THC is the main focus of such studies,” according to the authors.

But in the wake of their findings, the researchers said they expect THCP “is endowed of an even higher binding affinity for CB1 receptor and a greater cannabimimetic activity than THC itself.”

Still, further research is needed to determine the properties of these two new cannabinoids and to identify their possible uses.

Source: greencamp.com

How to make the perfect cuppa – as Boris Johnson’s tea-making skills are questioned

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Boris Johnson’s tea-making skills have been questioned after he was filmed pouring himself a cuppa in an election broadcast on Twitter.

The Prime Minister was criticized for not taking the tea bag out, adding milk with it still in and barely stirring the brew.

Some people even pointed out that the controversial technique could even lose the 55-year-old votes in the general election.

Mr Johnson responded to those who noticed how he takes his brew, saying: 

“This really is how I make my tea… It lets it brew and makes it stronger.”

After the PM shared the four-minute video from Conservative Party HQ on his Twitter users rushed to give their thoughts on his tea-making methods with much pouring scorn on his efforts.

I can’t be the only one who didn’t listen to a word and solely focused on the tea? Firstly, no brewing time? Just banged in the milk? @RobertoWGB

 tut tut.. Not just that, teabag removal non-existent and he nearly threw it everywhere towards the end. Are you even British @BorisJohnson #Tea

You put milk in your tea without taking the tea bag out first, you disgust me. @EltonMcManus

Never trust a man who makes a cup of tea and doesn’t remove the tea bag. Sociopath. @mbusby993

So how do you make the perfect cup of tea?
Dr Tim Bond, from the UK’s Tea Advisory Panel, and Ottilie Cunningham, tea and coffee buyer at Fortnum & Mason, give their expert-backed method for making the perfect cuppa.

Milk first or last?
Cunningham says it’s actually easier to do it afterwards “so you can see how much you’re adding”.

Bond agrees, adding you should wait until the tea bag is out of your cup before you add in the milk.

How hot should the water be?
Both experts agree black tea should be made with boiling hot water, although it needs to be freshly boiled. And you should never, reboil the same water.

“The golden rule is to always use freshly drawn water. The reason for this is that as the water boils, it loses oxygen in the bubbles – if you keep reboiling the same water, the tea will taste flat,” says Cunningham. 

The rule changes if you’re making green tea with Cunningham suggested you let the water cool slightly – to around 85 degrees Celsius. The reason behind this is that boiling water can make green tea taste bitter.

What kind of cup do you use?
Size is based on preference, but it should always be fine china, says Cunningham. Turns out the colour of your tea vessel could have an influence on taste too.

Dr Stuart Farrimond, an expert in the science of tea making, told TV presenter Cherry Healey on BBC Two’s ‘Inside the Factory’ that research has shown that tea drunk from a red or pink mug will taste sweeter than from a white or blue one.

It’s all about psychology you see, and studies have revealed that saltiness is associated with the colours white and blue, while sweetness is associated with red and pink.

What kind of tea pot do you use?
Bond suggests using a glass tea pot in order so you can see the tea colour develop – however, he says any material is sufficient apart from an iron tea pot, which might cause the tea to react with the material and give it a bad taste.

How long should a tea bag brew?
While some simply waft a bag in the water, for others only a proper long brew will do, but what’s the optimum time to leave it? According to Cunningham you need at least three minutes to allow tea flavours to properly infuse.

Bond agrees three minutes is the lower limit for brewing, but some teas can take up to five. “All companies provide on-pack instructions designed to get the best out of their products,” he adds.

To sugar or not to sugar?
This depends on preference, says Cunningham, although it’s important to add sugar while tea is hot so it dissolves properly – however there is one school of thought which says you should never add sugar to your tea.

Filter (and forget about styrofoam)
Other top tea-making tips include always using a filter if you live in an area with hard water to prevent scum forming.

“What happens when you use hard water to make a cup of tea, is you sometimes get that scum on the top,” Dr Farrimond told BBC.

“What’s happening is some of the flavour compounds are reacting with the calcium and they form this scummy layer, so you’re actually losing flavour, the flavour is being lost in that scum.”

Filtering the water first will remove calcium and magnesium residue and stop the scum forming.

The biggest tea-making crime? Using a Styrofoam cup. Not only does it look pretty naff, but Styrofoam absorbs the flavour molecules which in turn reduces the tastiness of the tea.

Source: Yahoo Style Uk by Marie Claire Dorking

Drinking three cups of tea a week linked to a longer and healthier life

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Research conducted by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing found that regular tea drinkers (three times weekly or more) would develop coronary heart disease and stroke around 17 months later and live 15 months longer compared to those who never or rarely drank tea.

They had a 20% lower risk of heart disease and stroke, a 22% lower risk of fatal heart disease and stroke and a 15% decreased risk of all-cause death.

This is believed to be down to the polyphenols found in tea – which are linked to protective effects against heart disease and raised blood pressure.

The researchers looked at 100,000 participants who had no history of heart attack, stroke or cancer. They were split into those who were habitual tea drinks (consuming it at least three times a week) and those who were not, drinking it more infrequently than this. It was discovered those who drank tea habitually experienced more healthy years of life and a longer life expectancy.

Then, the potential influence of changes in tea drinking behaviour was analyzed in a subset of around 14,000 participants with assessments at two time points up to 13 and a half years.

Regular tea drinkers who kept up their habit in both surveys were almost 40% less likely to have incident heart disease and stroke, 56% less likely to suffer fatal heart disease and stroke and had 29% lower risk of all-cause death compared with consistent never or non-habitual tea drinkers.

Researchers found drinking green tea alone could reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease and stroke by 25%.

Sadly, researchers were not able to prove the same specific link between British favourite, black tea (aka your go-to Tetleys), and the reduction of these diseases.

This was due to the small percentage of participants in the southeast Asian study group – just 8% – who drank black tea habitually, compared to almost half (49%) who said they drank green tea regularly.

Lead study author Dr. Xinyan Wang, from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, said: “Habitual tea consumption is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death. The favourable health effects are the most robust for green tea and for long-term habitual tea drinkers.

Senior author Dr. Dongfeng Gu, from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, added: “In our study population, 49 percent of habitual tea drinkers consumed green tea most frequently, while only eight percent preferred black tea. The small proportion of habitual black tea drinkers might make it more difficult to observe robust associations, but our findings hint at a differential effect between tea types.”

The study was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology.

Source: ca.style.yahoo.com by Francesca Specter

Senate OKs North American Trade Deal To Replace NAFTA, Giving Trump A Much-Needed Win

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From left, then-Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a USMCA signing ceremony in November 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

 

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a revised North American trade pact in a rare bipartisan vote Thursday that hands President Trump a victory on a key campaign promise just as lawmakers are preparing his impeachment trial.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, passed by a vote of 89-10. The trade pact, signed by the president in November 2018, received a similar bipartisan vote in the House last month.

The USMCA is meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiated in the 1990s by President George H.W. Bush and pushed through Congress by President Bill Clinton.

With a renegotiated trade pact with Mexico and Canada and the signing on Wednesday of an initial trade deal with China aimed at winding down a long and bitter trade war, Trump can claim to have fulfilled his pledge to get tough on trade and eliminate “bad deals” made by his predecessors.

Many economists argue that NAFTA was a substantial boost to North American economies, removing trade barriers, reducing tariffs and increasing foreign investment, particularly in Mexico.

Critics, including Trump and many Democrats, say NAFTA sent U.S. jobs across the border. The president has frequently maligned NAFTA as “perhaps the worst trade deal ever made.”

But a 2017 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that the impact of NAFTA over a quarter-century was difficult to isolate.

“A major challenge in assessing NAFTA is separating the effects that came as a result of the agreement from other factors. U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada was already growing prior to NAFTA and it likely would have continued to do so without an agreement,” it said.

“In reality, NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics or the large economic gains predicted by supporters,” the report said.

The new agreement does offer some modest benefits over the previous pact.

According to a report last year by the U.S. International Trade Commission, USMCA would boost gross domestic product by 0.35% after inflation, or $68.2 billion, creating 175,700 new jobs over six years, fewer on average than the U.S. economy creates in a single month.

“U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico would increase by $19.1 billion (5.9 percent) and $14.2 billion (6.7 percent), respectively. U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico would increase by $19.1 billion (4.8 percent) and $12.4 billion (3.8 percent), respectively,” according to the report.

One key feature would raise the percentage of a vehicle’s parts that must be produced in North America to avoid tariffs from 62.5% under the old NAFTA to 75% under the USMCA. The new pact would also require most of those parts to be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour — a provision designed to offset cheap Mexican labor.

The ITC report said that the changes would lead to a small increase in the retail price of vehicles.

The White House also negotiated a reduction in Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy products, including milk powder and baby formula. But Canada accomplished one of its top priorities: saving Chapter 19, a dispute resolution mechanism that allows any country to challenge another’s trade restrictions before a neutral arbitrating body.

The best-known Chapter 19 cases under NAFTA involve disputes between Canada and the U.S. over softwood lumber and between the U.S. and Mexico over washing machines.

“Canada’s negotiating position at the very least was significantly strengthened by the determinations it was getting under the Chapter 19 process,” Matthew Kronby, a trade lawyer with Borden Ladner Gervais in Toronto, told Reuters.

Democrats used the renegotiated pact to push their own agenda, winning stronger enforcement of labor and environmental protections and managing to cut out a provision that would have granted long-term patent protection to pharmaceutical companies.

“We’re declaring victory for the American worker,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last month. “It is infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration.”

Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., called the USMCA “a new construct for trade.”

Importantly, the USMCA was supported by organized labor. Speaking last month, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka said while USMCA “isn’t a perfect agreement,” it was “well on its way to getting there.”

On the 2020 presidential campaign trail, Democratic hopefuls expressed some disagreement over the new pact. During Tuesday night’s debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders insisted “we could do much better than a Trump-led trade deal.”

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren described the deal as a “modest improvement,” adding that “Sen. Sanders himself said so.”

“It will give some relief to our workers,” Warren said. “I believe we accept that relief, we try to help the people who need help, and we get up the next day and fight for a better trade deal.”

The new deal also includes provisions to protect the ozone layer, marine environment and air quality, and it establishes a fisheries management system to prevent overfishing in North American waters.

But that hasn’t been enough to satisfy environmental groups.

In a joint statement last month, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council urged its members to oppose the USMCA. They said the new trade deal doesn’t go nearly far enough and “would encourage further outsourcing of pollution and jobs, offer handouts to notorious corporate polluters, and prolong Trump’s polluting legacy for years.”

“The deal not only fails to mention, acknowledge, or address the climate crisis, but would actually contribute to it,” they said.

Whole Foods Market in Richmond to Open end of January 2020

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Whole Foods Market will open its new 47,000 square-foot Richmond store, located at 2024 West Broad Street, at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30. As part of the opening day celebrations, guests can enjoy complimentary coffee, pastries from local suppliers and music before the store opens. The first 200 customers will receive a custom Whole Foods Market Richmond reusable tote bag, as well as a savings card with a mystery value ranging between $5 and $100.

Built-in the location of the former Pleasants Hardware, Whole Foods Market incorporated the original brick façade, wooden beams and other elements of the historic Kaufman building into the interior design of the store.

“We are excited to welcome the Richmond community to their new Whole Foods Market,” said Bill Balderson, Store Team Leader. “With a variety of high-quality products, items local to Virginia and many prepared food options located on the first floor, paired with a self-serve eatery and taproom on the second, we’re confident our neighbors will enjoy eating and shopping with us.”

All food at Whole Foods Market must meet the company’s rigorous quality standards, which prohibit hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, as well as over 100 colors, flavors and preservatives commonly found in food. In addition, all beauty and body care products must meet the company’s body care standards, which ban more than 100 commonly used ingredients, including phthalates, parabens and microbeads.

Special features of the store will include:

• Fresh produce department offering a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables, including offerings from local growers and a range of items with Whole Foods Market’s Whole Trade® Guarantee, which supports suppliers that are committed to ethical trade, working conditions, and the environment.

• Full-service butcher featuring in-house made sausages, dry-aged offerings and bone broth-making kits, as well as selections from local suppliers such as lamb and grass-fed beef.

• Seafood department offering fresh and frozen seafood, including locally sourced crab meat, clams, oysters and smoked fish, with all offerings either sustainable wild-caught or Responsibly Farmed.

• Specialty foods section featuring a variety of cheeses, including options from 10 local suppliers, overseen by an in-store American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional who can offer expertise and recommendations for any request or occasion.

• Hundreds of different beers and wines, many from local producers.

Bakery department offering an array of made-in-house bread, cakes, and pastries, as well as items for special diets and offerings from local suppliers.

• Prepared foods section offering a salad bar, 13 seasonally rotating soups, pizza, sushi and build-your-own mezze bowls featuring a variety of Mediterranean flavors and toppings.

• Bulk section offering more than 150 items including nuts, seeds, granola, grains, dried fruit, and candy.

Beauty, body care and home goods section offering products from local suppliers.

• Nearly 1,000 products throughout the store from about 150 local suppliers, some of which are new to Whole Foods Market or are recipients of Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans to local producers to help grow their businesses.

The Richmond store will also feature a self-serve eatery and taproom on the mezzanine level, offering a variety of pub-style food, indoor and outdoor seating for over 150 guests and self-serve wine and beer that customers are invited to drink while shopping in the store.

Amazon Prime members who shop at Whole Foods Market have access to a number of benefits year-round, like deep discounts on dozens of select popular products each week and an additional 10% off hundreds of in-store sale items. In addition, eligible Prime members receive 5% back on Whole Foods Market purchases when using the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card.

To celebrate joining the community, 5% of the store’s net sales on Thursday, Feb. 6 will benefit Tricycle Urban Ag Culture, a local nonprofit organization on a mission to grow a healthy future through urban agriculture.

Whole Foods Market Richmond will employ approximately 165 full and part-time team members. Following the grand opening, the store will be open from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. daily.

Whole Foods Market has one other store in the area, with the first being its Short Pump location in Glen Allen, Va.

Source: Wholefoods Market

P.E.I. grocers see better sales growth than others in Canada

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Sales growth for P.E.I. grocers is triple the national average. (Bryan Eneas/CBC )

 

While the grocery business is stagnant in Canada as a whole, grocery retailers on P.E.I. are finding ways to increase sales.

The general trend nationally is for Canadians, in their search for convenience, to be spending more on foodservice and grocery stores are for the most part suffering from that competition.

But in P.E.I., grocers managed 3.3 percent sales growth in the first 10 months of 2019, as compared to the same period the year before. A little more than half of that growth was due to increased population — P.E.I. is the fastest-growing province in the country — but growth in spending per capita was also a factor.

Spending per capita on groceries in Canada, at just over $210 a month, is up a mere 0.5 percent. The increase in P.E.I. is three times the national average, up to more than $236 per person.

Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, can think of a couple of reasons P.E.I. grocers are doing better than others.

Strong immigration numbers over the last decade have led to a more diverse population on the Island. This has brought new, and perhaps more expensive, products into grocery stores.

Another factor, said Charlebois, is the strong growth in the P.E.I. economy.

“Grocers do have the ability to assess a market’s capacity to pay for food,” he said.

“They will set prices based on what they believe the market will be able to bear. That’s basically how it works. They’re very good at pricing and that’s why you’re seeing growth in sales and retail sales, particularly in food.”

Charlebois added Canada’s Food Island initiative is also creating new products that are showing up in Island stores, and those premium products could be increasing the average price of groceries.

Source: cbc.ca

Robots join grocery war

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Hidden behind a store in southern New Hampshire, Walmart’s latest weapon in its food fight against Amazon.com is now fully operational.

The nation’s biggest grocer last week unveiled the Alphabot, an automated, 20,000-square-foot warehouse that could make its grocery pickup service faster and more efficient. 

Alphabot’s robotic carts quickly retrieve items and deliver them to employees at a picking station, who then pack and deliver the order to customers’ cars in the parking lot. Retailers call the process micro-fulfillment, and some analysts say it’s the most promising technology to hit food retail in years.

“This is going to be a transformative impact on Walmart’s supply chain,” said Brian Roth, Walmart’s senior manager of pickup automation and digital operations. “Alphabot is streamlining the order process, allowing associates to do their jobs with greater speed and efficiency.”

Speed and efficiency have not been hallmarks of online grocery shopping, dating back to the early 2000s when dot-com poster child Webvan expanded too fast, underestimated demand and suffered operational snafus before cratering. Since then, online grocery options have grown slowly, as many customers still prefer to pick out their avocados and steaks in the store. But food is a sluggish, low-margin sector, and even once-hot categories like organics have slowed. So retailers in this $800 billion space, desperate for growth, are looking online.

While Walmart’s overall e-commerce division has had its ups and downs, its online grocery business has been a star, boosting a category that contributes more than half of its U.S. revenue. Today, customers can pick up their orders curbside for free at more than 3,000 stores, up from about 400 in 2016. The company also offers home delivery for a fee, and is testing deliveries that go right into customers’ fridges when they’re not home.

The moves have helped Walmart stay ahead of Amazon as the internet giant tries to grab more of Americans’ food spending. A recent survey from The Retail Feedback Group found that 37 percent of shoppers chose Walmart for their most recent online grocery order, besting Amazon at 29 percent and also traditional supermarkets, many of whom employ Instacart Inc. to handle fulfillment.

The Alphabot, designed by a Massachusetts startup called Alert Innovation, could help Walmart build on that lead. Walmart began working with Alert in 2016, as part of a broader corporate initiative dubbed “Alpha” that sought to improve the profitability of online grocery. The first Alphabot system came online last March.

The current online-grocery model often requires dozens of employees to rush around the store picking goods, while others collect and take them to customers’ vehicles. The process is very labor-intensive, and leads to order mix-ups and more congestion for regular shoppers, who have to dodge the online pickers as they weave in and out of aisles with their eyes glued to handheld devices that spit out the next item to grab.

Alphabot helps bring order to the process. The thirty bots in the Salem warehouse, each about two feet wide, quietly whiz product-filled totes around vertically and horizontally without the need for lifts or conveyors, picking items ten times faster than a human shopper could. Still, the bots can’t pick fresh produce and other perishable items yet, so that’s handled by employees in the store. And the Salem Alphabot is only working at 20% capacity right now, handling about 170 orders a day.

Walmart’s not alone among big retailers in developing micro-fulfillment, but Jefferies analyst Christopher Mandeville says Alphabot leads the pack as it’s “the most diverse and comprehensive” offering. Walmart has a scaled-down version in a supercenter near its headquarters in Arkansas, and plans to start construction of two more Alphabot systems this year next to stores in Mustang, Oklahoma and Burbank, California.

One day, the Alphabot system could deliver orders right to customers’ cars, creating a grocery drive-thru experience.

“We will continue to grow this aggressively,” Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior vice president of digital operations, said. “You cannot grow by picking one order in one shopping cart at a time.”

Credit: Matthew Boyle Bloomberg / Source: www.seattletimes.com

Certified organic flavors now required in organic products

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A final rule published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) now requires the use of certified organic flavors in certified organic products when they are commercially available. The rule was implemented and went into effect on December 27, 2019.

“It is now time that the regulations catch up with the marketplace,” says Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. “Our position is that the organic flavor supply has grown to a size where it is no longer appropriate to allow the use of non-organic natural flavors in certified organic products.”

The Organic Trade Association submitted a petition to help grow the availability and use of organic flavors in 2014. Natural flavors have been included on the National List since it was first implemented in 2002. Since that time, however, many organic flavors have been developed, and are being successfully used by many companies.

“When we filed the petition, we realized the number of available certified organic flavors was not adequate to meet the current total needs of the organic marketplace. However, given the tremendous growth of organic flavors, we took this proactive step to push the needle in the direction of continuous improvement by requiring the use of organic flavors when they are available in the quality, quantity, and form needed,” says Gwendolyn Wyard, Vice President of Regulatory and Technical Affairs.

Organic Trade Association develops a guide to comply with the new rule

Currently, there is no formal guidance from the National Organic Program on the commercial search and use of natural and organic flavors for NOP certified products. However, the Organic Trade Association has developed a practical guide to complying with the new requirements for flavors, for its members and others in the sector, that reflects the National Organic Standards Board recommendations concerning commercial availability searches for ingredients and related instruction from NOP on filing a petition.

According to the Guide, companies using natural flavors in certified organic products do not need to panic about the change. The trade association has drawn up information to help certified operators develop a sound and sensible organic flavor search plan that can be submitted to and agreed upon by the accredited certifier.

The intent of the final rule is continuous improvement to increase the growth and use of organic flavors over time. The intent is not to hand down non-compliances to companies unable to secure organic flavors when they do not meet the specifications needed to make a product that organic shoppers will buy. Instead, the goal is for companies to start the process, make a search and evaluation process, and work with their certifiers on an annual basis to determine when and what organic flavors are commercially available.

Commercial availability is defined as the ability to obtain an ingredient or substance in an appropriate form, quality or quantity to fulfill an essential function in an organic product as determined by a certifying agent in the course of reviewing a company’s organic plan. An organic handling system plan must include a list of each substance to be used, including its composition, source, the location where it will be used, and documentation of commercial availability. Price cannot be a consideration in determining commercial availability.

Informational webinar being offered
In addition to its practical guide, the Organic Trade Association is offering a webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern on January 29 titled “New Rules: Requirement for Using Organic Flavors in Processed Organic Products” to its members as well as non-members.

In this session, attendees will get a first look at new industry guidance on the use of organic flavors developed by the Organic Trade Association.  The webinar is free to Organic Trade Association members, with a $149 fee for non-members. Sign up now for the webinar!

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing over 9,500 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.

Source: ota.com

H-E-B rated No. 1 grocer in the U.S.

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H-E-B is kicking off the new year on top. The San Antonio-based grocer has been rated the number one grocery store in the nation followed by Trader Joe’s in second place and Amazon in third.

The annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI) evaluates 60 U.S. retailers on seven performance markers: price, quality, digital, operations, convenience, discounts/rewards and speed. The report was released this week by the data science firm Dunnhumby.

“H-E-B and our Partners continue to focus on making the lives of Texans better by serving our communities and customers with the best retail experience in our stores and online. H-E-B Partners (employees) are thrilled with the announcement and appreciate all the positive comments from customers on social media outlets” said Regina Garcia, H-E-B Public Affairs Senior Manager.

As in previous years, Dunnhumby revealed only the first quartile of finishers by rank. The 14 chains are as follows:

  1. H-E-B
  2. Trader Joe’s
  3. Amazon
  4. Market Basket
  5. Wegmans
  6. Costco
  7. Aldi
  8. Sam’s Club
  9. Walmart
  10. Publix
  11. WinCo
  12. Fresh Thyme Farmers Market
  13. Sprouts Farmers Market
  14. Shop Rite

New to the top quartile list are Publix, Fresh Tyme, and Shop Rite.

Source: crossroadstoday.com