Background and Overview
Many of
us on the RVAF diet, although we try to eat only
foods which have not been previously frozen, must use such frozen foods
when the item is out of season or otherwise unavailable. Many
of
us who like to eat berries year-round must often rely upon frozen
berries. Most of us have been using Cascadian Farms berries because they are
organic
and seem to be of high quality. However, a number of folks in
the
raw foods world had also begun expressing doubts about the quality
(mainly:
"are they truly unheated?") of Cascadian Farms (CF) berries, largely
because
of fears that quality control may have been compromised by
their recent purchase by General Mills.
Spurred by my own curiosity, some concerns of
Aajonus
about the status (truly unheated) of frozen berries in general, and by
the concerns of a few members of the Live-foods list about the
Cascadian
Farms organic berries (all their berries, including the berry mix), I
decided
to do some research to make sure that:
1) Cascadian Farms really does not heat
their (to-be-frozen) berries in any way, and
2) that their quality control or processes have
not been
compromised by their recent purchase by General Mills.
Frankly,
I suspect that most of the level of concern I had
been hearing on this topic has been due to the fact that some folks may
be very wary of a large corporation (GM) purchasing a relatively small
organic producer, and they may have concerns about quality control and
adherence to good organic procedures. Some additional concern
may
be engendered by the fact that we have all been misled at times, if
only
accidentally, by producers of supposedly "raw and unheated" goods,
whether
the product be raw unheated honey, raw cheese, or
raw butter.
My
research first started with a chat with the farm manager
at the original Cascadian Farms farm in Oregon. Next, I
proceeded
to try to get past the front-line customer service representatives
who
staff the Cascadian Farms toll-free (800) Consumer Information
telephone
line, to access folks who knew more and who had greater
responsibility. I finally got a callback one morning from a production specialist for
Cascadian
Farms named Mike, who provides a link for passing information from the
QA (Quality Assurance) and R&D (Research & Development)
departments
to Cascadian Farm's Consumer Information folks, and we had several
conversations
over a five-day period. Cascadian Farms has both
a QA department
as well as an R&D department, Mike is in touch with each team
on virtually
a daily basis, and the QC/QI functions are in many ways spread across
these
three entities (QA, R&D and Mike).
My sources for the information below are primarily
my
five conversations with Mike, with some filler from the production
manager
for the original Cascadian family farm, who has been on the job for 8
years. I have chosen not to use any of the information I received directly
from
the customer service representatives at Cascadian Farm's 800 number
over
the past two
weeks, in order to ensure greater accuracy, unless
it
was checked and verified by Mike. Mike, for his part, had
double-checked
all the answers which he had given to me with Cascadian Farms' QA and
R&D
departments.
Quick Summary
For those with little patience (or poor
literacy!), let
me summarize, before we get into detail, that I am now extremely sure
that
Cascadian Farms does not in any way allow their organic berries (or
cherries)
to be heated in any way prior to freezing, and I plan to continue using
their frozen organic berries as an adjunct to my raw diet, particularly
for pulling certain toxins out of the body (and because they taste
good!).
The Detail -- All of It!
First, some detail on the relationship between
Cascadian
Farms (CF) and General Mills (GM). GM purchased CF early in
the year,
because, all parties agree, CF was a premiere organic producer known
for
high quality, and GM wished to enter the organic marketplace with a
strong
and proven product line and organization behind it. From the
beginning,
CF (along with Muir Glen, another organic label) has been maintained by
GM under the name "Small
Planet" as an individual, wholly-owned subsidiary
of
GM. CF (along with Muir Glen, under the Small Planet name)
continues
to operate its own production network, management staff, QA department
and R&D department. These are totally separate from
the remainder
of GM's operations.
All fruits (cherries) and berries picked for
processing
by CF are produced under strict organic standards and must be from
certified
organic farms. Most of their cherries and berries come from CF-owned
farms
in WA and OR, with some coming from certified organic producers in
other
states, and some even from outside the USA. Many of their
growers
are subject to Oregon Tilth standards and certification (which is a 3rd
party organic certifier), as well. In short, the highest
temperatures
which cherries or berries may reach prior to freezing are the ambient
temperatures
found in fields (during growing and picking), and ambient temperatures
during brief storage and any necessary transport prior to
freezing. All cherries and berries are frozen within 3 days of picking, and are
frozen
in only two plants (one in WA, the other in
OR) both of which are operated by the same
3rd-party
company under contract to CF. Prior to freezing, berries are
rinsed
in cold water only.
In addition to the already-discussed scrutiny and
certification
of the growing process, picking, storage and processing of the berries
is also overseen by Oregon Tilth standards (and inspectors) and
additionally
by both the QA and R&D departments of CF. Both of the
latter-mentioned
departments make visits not only to farms, but regular visits to the
two
processing plants operating under contract to CF. Incidentally, neither
of these processing plants is used by GM for any of their other product
lines. Indeed, a slightly funny side note is that GM has
considered
using these plants for some of their own non-organic lines as
well, but are not yet sure that the plants (while
they
fully meet organic standards) meet GM's own very strict internal
standards
for sanitation, mold prevention, allergen control and allergen
cross-contamination
(e.g., making sure that no trace of blueberry ends up in a blackberry
package,
or vice versa.)
I asked a bit hesitantly about what maximum
temperatures
might be reached by cherries and berries during storage and
transport. I asked this question only hesitantly, because any organic produce
ending
up in the produce department of your local health food supermarket is
going
to be subject to the possibility of slightly elevated temperatures
during
storage and shipping. I was assured by Mike that fruit or
berries
destined to be frozen should not be any more liable to damage from such
exposure, and indeed, should be somewhat less liable, since they only
need
to survive for a maximum of three days from picking to time of
freezing,
as the total transit and storage time is shorter. Mike's
answers
gave me no cause for concern.
Incidentally, since there was a big scandal in the
organic
world a few years ago about a well-known organic nut distributor which
was caught accidentally (some say on purpose!) intermingling unorganic
nuts with the so-called "organic" nuts on their loading docks, I asked
the logical question "How does CF ensure that only the organic berries
sent to their processor are used in freezing, and not intermingled with
non-organic berries?" Turns out that this matter is
addressed regularly,
via protocols and inspections, not only by CF's QA and R&D
departments,
but also by the Oregon Tilth association, again via published standards
as well as on-site inspections. Mike told me that CF goes one
step
further, and also frequently performs random tests on berries entering
and leaving the freezing and packaging lines to ensure that
the berries (and cherries) meet organic standards
(no
trace of pesticides or certain other substances.)
As a side note, I discovered that all CF cherries
and
berries are individually quick frozen on the freezing line (I seem to
remember
that the process is called "IQS") to ensure that they freeze quickly
(preserving
flavor, shape and color) and to prevent their sticking together in one
mass.
Conclusions
Much as I stated above in the Quick
Summary section,
I am quite satisfied that CF really does take reasonable steps to
ensure
that their berries and cherries are not heated in any way prior to
freezing,
that they are truly raw and unheated prior to freezing, and that they
are
truly organic.
Some of the
folks at CF were quite amused at my
inquiries,
and the fact that I was trying to ensure that their berries are TRULY
raw. It seems that almost all of the inquiries which they receive from
consumers
are from more conventional users of organic frozen products, and these
folks want to be reassured about bacteria (absence of bacteria, that
is!)
Specifically, they want to be reassured that the berries are really
clean,
and are cleaned very well prior to freezing. Many would
prefer to
hear that the berries are free of microorganisms. CF goes out
of
their way to train their customer service reps on the 800 Consumer
Infoline meticulously, making sure that they stress that this is
essentially
a raw product, and is only rinsed on cold water prior to freezing, and
while the berries are organic and harvested under reasonably clean
conditions,
they can make no assurances that the berries are free of bacteria and
other
microorganisms. Mike seemed to find it refreshing to be
talking with
someone who was not at all paranoid about the possible presence of
bacteria,
and who rather wanted assurances that the product is really as raw and
natural, bacteria included!
Although I knew that irradiation is against all
organic
standards, and, in any case, if a food were irradiated, it would need
to
bear the (silly little) irradiation label, I asked anyway about this
tiny
possibility, since several correspondents had expressed worries about
this. The answer, of course, was that Cascadian Farms has never irradiated
anything,
that it is against all organic standards and (in some states)
laws. In any case, they pointed out, it would be sure suicide for any
supplier
of organic or even "natural" foodstuffs to try to irradiate the food
and
then market it as such in the natural foods marketplace -- they would
be
laughed all the way to Istanbul.