Response to the Merchandise Policy report

[Shauna Lynn]

Hi GM John,

On your L11 Merchandise Policy report, (found in the July packet, posted on the Board forum) the graph that shows how much organic is sold does not have a green line for MCC – as if MCC sells zero organic. Could you add this info to the graph on the new L11 report in Sept, which will be up for Board approval I imagine, with some changes? Was sad to see that after 3.5 years of the non-GMO committee trying to advocate for reducing harmful pesticides in our offerings (because people trust that we are providing safe, chemical-free food, and don’t even bother reading labels once inside the co-op, then some end up getting cancer) that in reality we sell LESS than fifty percent clean food – 50% was what I was originally quoted by you in the beginning, 3.5 years ago – instead of bettering this we are doing worse now. But I believe you were stating that we OFFER 50% organic – a determination that is still not being calculated, if I understand correctly, because you are only reporting based on sales at the register, rather than the products we offer – right? I would like to see a report based on what we sell rather than what people buy. If we offered 100% chemical-free food, then people would get to buy 100% chemical-free food when they shop at FCC. People trust the co-op to sell them healthy food, and via our co-op principles, we should do our absolute best to live up to that trust.

Will you have an update in Sept re the elimination of Coca-cola-owned odwalla and honest tea? Eliminating Coke products at long last is an encouraging concept, in response to both policy: L11.5 “Continually demonstrate a reduction in the purchase of products manufactured or
owned by a parent company that resists or fights GMO labeling laws or whose primary business plan does not support a sustainable and regenerative food system” and Policy: L11.6 “Assure that FCC will not knowingly do business with companies that exploit their
workers”

Are all the ingredients in our new house-made smoothies organic? I saw that the chai spice blend on “dirty chai” did not have an asterisk, when other ingreds did, when I was looking for something to drink. In your L11 report you write a list of things in prepared food which are organic – these items are 100% organic??? I was not aware of organic options in prepared foods other than 1 soup, rice and beans, and left side of salad bar – We should have a colorful sign indicating ~ORGANIC~
for any prepared food which is an 100% organic option, for those like me who can only eat (but have a hard time finding) chemical-free food, due to chronic illness and/ or chemical sensitivity – or those who want to protect themselves from future illness, or early death, and/ or protect the environment, the pollinators, and refuse to support factory-farming, aka Big Ag, aka Monsanto. Also the staff in prepared foods should be trained to know the reality about the ingredients instead of giving out false information to customers that “everything is organic” which I have heard from several staff behind the deli counter – false advertising, and could cause negative health consequences for those who NEED to eat organic, even opening us to lawsuits. This also violates
L11.3 Label, present and market merchandise as clearly, completely, and honestly as possible.

Gloria, Andy, Mona and I noticed while looking at jelly/ jams at GFM for GMO sugar, that there is one French brand that takes up almost a row of prime space, which has a green dot on the code strip, which is not organic, nor claiming to use organic ingreds. Is anyone going through and checking that the code strips are accurate? Again, mistakes like this violate L11.3 Label, present and market merchandise as clearly, completely, and honestly as possible.

Also, I certainly do not agree with a suggestion you made that the L11.2 policy which says
“Support local, organic food production, including incubation of new products to the highest reasonable degree.”
should be changed to “local and/ or organic”, as this would defeat the intended purpose of encouraging clean organic options locally. If people are producing factory-farmed, Big Ag, chemical laden food LOCALLY then they are endangering local farm workers (our friends and neighbors), polluting our local soil, ecosystems, pollinators, air and water, which is certainly NOT the intended purpose of the policy. Nor is it to encourage local products where they are mixing GMOs and a number of Big Ag, pesticide laden ingredients from far-a-field, and assembling them locally – this does nothing to further the co-ops mission to provide healthy food, and local producers should be given a set of criteria to meet, including using local organic ingredients which support local organic farmers, the local environment, and health of our local workers, FCC owners and all consumers who enter our stores.

Thanks,
Shauna

[Shauna Lynn]

Pages 12 – 18 in this packet:

contain the first Monitoring Report from our GM, John Williams, for the
L11 Merchandise Policy.

This Merchandise Policy, which is outlined in the report was enacted by the Board of directors in April of 2017.

The original drafts were brought by the Non-GMO committee in June of 2015 and looked like this:

GMO Policy proposal being brought by the Non-GMO Committee
Policy Type: Executive Limitations
Policy Title: L11 – Healthy Food and Transparency/ Direct Education Policy
Global: Due to food industry changes, that encourage the use of herbicides and other carcinogenic
and environmentally-damaging chemicals and the proliferation of genetically modified organisms in
food products, the following precautions shall be instituted to educate and help protect customers
seeking healthy food.
The GM shall not fail to:
L11.1 Increase metrics of organic food offered at FCC, and report these metrics to members
every six months.
L11.2 Eliminate and prohibit any food product containing textiles (e.g. cotton seed oil) or
other unsafe or non-food ingredient.
L11.3 Provide clear, self-evident shelf labeling of likely GMOs, conventional – which may
contain synthetic pesticides, and organic options.
L11.4 Provide organic options when a likely GMO or synthetic pesticided product is
offered, and support local organic food production and incubation of products to fill this
need.
L11.5 Indicate products whose parent companies fight GMO labeling, and indicate meaning of
same throughout stores.
L11.6 Have higher standards for prepared foods.
L11.6.1 Eliminate and prohibit likely GMOs, e.g. non-organic corn, soy, canola and
sugar (and derivatives of same) from prepared foods.
L11.6.2 Eliminate probable carcinogens throughout prepared foods.
L11.6.3 Provide clear labeling of all organic ingredients throughout prepared foods.
L11.7 Provide an online forum for members and customers to receive and share food
issue education, and discuss with the board of directors, management, staff, and other
members and customers, food and other concerns regarding FCC.

The Non-GMO committee worked together with the Policy and Bylaw Revision committee to revise/ edit and create the L11 policy that was eventually enacted, and is now monitored / reported on for the first time, which you may view at the page linked above.

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