Is Your Organic Apple Sprayed With Antibiotics?

By Jim PathFinder Ewing

When people think of organics, they think — rightly so! — that the food they buy is free from synthetic chemicals of any kind. However, as noted in a recent article in ACRES USA, organic apples and pears may be treated with antibiotics.

It all started in 1995, when the National Organics Standards Board voted by a split vote to allow antibiotics for treatment of fire blight, a bacterial disease. Specifically, NOSB allowed the use of the antibiotics streptomycin and tetracycline; then, in 2008, added oxytetracycline hydrochloride. (See “Antibiotics in Fruit Production: A Challenge to Organic Integrity,” ACRES USA, Vol. 43, No. 4, April 2013 issue.)

Allowing antibiotics in fruit caused an uproar when it started and recently came to a head with the rule being reviewed in April. It was seen as a way of “watering down” organic standards to accommodate industrial agriculture. The use of antibiotics in the production of meat is strictly prohibited by organic standards, while prolific with the general food industry.

The potential and real dangers of antibiotics in the production of food are well known. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 80 percent of U.S. antibiotic use is on livestock, not humans, leading to increasingly virulent strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic treatment. It’s used in livestock to increase weight (and profits), not to prevent disease, but has the added “benefit” of allowing the animals to be kept in overcrowded and poor sanitary conditions. Except, of course, for certified organic meat production.

This inconsistency in regard to fruit has long been a troubling point for those concerned about the integrity of organic standards.

One might ask, well, if it’s needed by the fruit growers, why prohibit it? The answer is simple: It’s not needed if a farmer grows apples resistant to blight. As it is, because most consumers are familiar with popular varieties, such as Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith, that’s what they buy. But these varieties are susceptible to fire blight and are routinely sprayed with the chemicals as a preventive measure.

That doesn’t mean that orchard growers must grow those varieties. Other popular varieties such as Red Delicious and Northern Spy are not susceptible to fire blight.

Due to public opposition, the rule allowing antibiotics in organic apples and pears will expire Oct. 21, 2014.

Until then, consumers should pay attention to the varieties they buy.

Quick bites:

Consumer beware: Regardless of the USDA Certified Organic label, if you buy Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith varieties, they are likely to have been sprayed with antibiotics. Likewise with pear varieties D’Anjou, Bartlett, Aurora and Dutchess.

Rather, buy fire blight resistant varieties such as, with apples: Melrose, Winesap, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Liberty, McIntosh, and Northern Spy. With pears: Honeysweet, Kieffer, LaConte, Old Home; and Asian pears: Chojuro Kosui, Olympic, and Shinko.

Here is a chart of resistant and susceptible varieties from the quarterly Beyond Pesticides:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/Summer2011/antibiotics-fruit.pdf

Fire Blight Affects Local Trees, Shrubs

For homeowners and backyard growers, fire blight can be a problem, as well, particularly this time of year. In May, especially in wet weather, it can appear on the tips of branches giving a scorched appearance (hence, it’s name “fire” blight). According to Dr. Wayne Porter of Mississippi State University Extension Service, even use of antibiotic treatment won’t work once it’s begun; the best control is cutting back the diseased limbs, and only in dry weather. Do not fertilize the tree, as the blight will likely infect the new growth. (See “Controlling Fire Blight” – http://gardeninginms.blogspot.com/2011/05/controlling-fire-blight.html)

Planting Blight Resistant Apples, Pears

For planting in Mississippi, apples are traditionally more amenable to the northern part of the state, but some varieties will grow elsewhere, using recommended root stocks (M7A or MM106), according to the extension service. Some recommended varieties: Royal or Imperial; Smoothe, a Royal Delicious type; Ozark Gold; Red Chief, Mercier Variety; Arkansas Black. Coast: Golden Dorset, Anna, Ein Shiemer.

Pears are common statewide. Kieffer is the most well known variety, but it’s not resistant to fire blight. Better is Orient and Moonglow (and Baldwyn for the Coast; Ayers for North Mississippi).

For more on planting apples and pears suitable for Mississippi climate, see the Mississippi State University Extension Service publication “Fruit and Nut Recommendations for Mississippi”:

http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p0966.pdf

For more on antibiotics, see:

Is Your Meat Safe? Antibiotic Debate Overview – Frontline, PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html

Jim PathFinder Ewing is a journalist, author, writer, editor, organic farmer and blogger. His latest book titled Conscious Food: Sustainable Growing, Spiritual Eating (Findhorn Press) is in bookstores now. Find Jim on Facebook: http://bit.ly/cuxUdc or follow him @edibleprayers or @organicwriter or visit blueskywaters.com.

Antibiotics in food not an ‘organic’ problem

Sept. 15, 2011

Antibiotics in food a ‘conventional,’ not organic, problem

Now that you’re diligently planting your fall garden, the question arises: How do I fertilize it in an organic way?

The easiest way is to use compost. That’s simply allowing vegetable table scraps, and other natural materials such as grass clippings, old coffee grounds and filters and egg shells to decompose, then applying them.

This rich material spread 1/4 inch deep on top of the soil, or used as a dressing for each plant, goes a long way.

In addition, you can use purchased materials such as nitrogen-rich organic fish emulsion or kelp meal, or blood meal. All are sold in local garden supply stores.

What you put into the soil results in the quality of what you pull out of the soil as food.

Reader response: I thought that it’s not OK to use commercial bagged manure because it has antibiotics in it from industrial agriculture and CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations).

Some inputs are not suitable for “organic” use, while they may be widespread in “conventional” agriculture. All manures for organic crops must be composted.

Additionally, some certifying agencies recommend against using poultry litter because it contains arsenic from feed.

You can look up brand names of sold manures to see if they comply with the National Organic Program at www.omri.org. They do not contain pesticides, hormones or synthetic chemicals.

Astoundingly, some obviously ignorant people have called organic unsafe for using manure when only organic farmers are regulated for safety in using manure while “conventional” agriculture is not.

The USDA announced Monday that it would begin testing pork for antibiotics. It’s a good first step, along with its plans to begin testing ground beef and beef scraps for six E. coli varieties.

Of course, this ruling dances around the central question of what is causing disease outbreaks. It’s not the E. coli, which is a natural bacterium, but factory farming that’s the culprit.

These pathogens are in the colon of cattle that when fed corn in feedlots and CAFOs are multiplied in number and virulence. When cattle are grassfed and finished (not corn), both E. coli numbers and acid resistance (ability to sicken humans) diminish.

“Conventional” agriculture: Certainly, antibiotic use in “conventional” agriculture should be sharply curtailed from the standpoint of public safety.

In a recent study, almost half of meat in groceries sampled was found to have drug-resistant bacteria – with CAFOs the suspected source (The Los Angeles Times, April 15: http://lat.ms/eL4Fap).

Regarding contaminants in soil from CAFO manures and other sources: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Sources, Fate, Effects and Risks by Klaus KŸmmerer (Springer, 2004) says chemicals in human sewer sludge (used in some “conventional” agriculture, euphemistically called “wastewater residuals” and “biosolids”) are the most long lasting in soil and water, and can persist for years, followed by swine runoff.

Drugs and chemicals in beef appear to be the most short-lived, dissipating within days or weeks.

Tested tetracyclines in chicken waste dissipated at varying rates, in as little as 30 days, with an average of 180 days.

Oxytetracycline in fish farm sediment generally lasted 120 days.

Organic standards call for a three-year moratorium on fields that have been used for conventional agriculture before they can be used for organic farm production.

Online: Farmers can sell or donate hay for farmers in Texas to help them feed their livestock during historic drought conditions. See:www.gotexan.org/HayhotlineHome.aspx.

Jim PathFinder Ewing is a journalist, author, writer, editor, organic farmer and blogger. His latest book titled Conscious Food: Sustainable Growing, Spiritual Eating (Findhorn Press) is in bookstores now. Find Jim on Facebook: http://bit.ly/cuxUdc or follow him @edibleprayers or @organicwriter or visit blueskywaters.com.