This past Wednesday, my group completed our first oral history interview. We actually wound up interviewing my sister-in-law to get a consumer's stance on advertising and organic food. She was a good choice because she talked about the expense of eating organically, and of course the benefits. She is a mother of three, so she talked about how important it was for the baby to at least eat organic for the whole first year. She thinks that a good foundation establishes healthy habits and immunities. When my sister-in-law was younger, her father and grandfather actually raised chickens, so she was able to give us some insight on the meat side of things too. Towards the end of the interview, she gives valuable advice to people who are just starting to eat organically. I don't want to tell you yet, because I want you to listen to the interview when it is up in a couple of days (that's my teaser).

     In other oral history updates, Dawn Roy interviewed her boyfriend about his eating habits because of the recent changes he made. His interview provides us with good consumer comparisons. Check our sites for that too later.

     In further oral history news, I am stopping at Natural Health in Blackwood, NJ tomorrow before I come to class. This story has been around for a long time, and for the size of it, it carries a great selection of organic products. I am going to ask the manager if she would be willing to do an interview with us. My father did some wiring at her store a few years back, so I am hoping that connection will maker her feel comfortable enough to help us. Plus, it's practically a free advertisement for them!

Group Members: Megan Norris, Dawn Roy

So in the process of trying to find information about our topic that didn't completely fly over my head, I found this article. I really enjoyed reading it because it was simply written, and it still provided meaningful, seemingly researched information. It also was relatively recent---from 2005, so that was encouraging. One thing I found especially interesting was that the claim on labels that say "natural" or "all natural" have no real legal standard.  So when you see crackers and cookies with this claim, read the ingredients. These claims are really only legitimate when it comes to meat, and even then they are not strictly regulated (see article).  In addition, when meat claims that it is "natural", that does not mean that it is antibiotic free. Consumers have to look for that specification separately if it is important to them. Another issue that stood out to me was the caution toward buying "free range" eggs. The author pointed out that this could simply mean that the chickens had about 5 minutes a day to go outside, or maybe just the option to with a door somewhere in the coop. A lot of companies that claim this for their chickens, are really no different from the horrible conditions depicted in Food Inc. The author suggests looking for phrases like "pasture-fed". Other good phrases to look out for include the following:

• "100% Organic"
• "Organic"
• "Made with Organic Ingredients"
• "Free Farmed" poultry, beef and pork
• "Food Alliance" beef and pork
• "Pasture-fed" or "Grass-fed" beef, lamb, and eggs
• rBGH free

I really enjoyed this reading, and I think the breakdown of catch-phrases will give my group a good frame of reference for our research.
Group members: Dawn Roy, Megan Norris