Organic Potatoes at Safeway: You’re Doing It Wrong! (Pic)

73 by Timothy Hurst on April 19, 2010

One of the principle reasons people cite for buying organic produce is that it is better for the environment. As it is grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, organic produce creates fewer harmful byproducts that can wind up in the air, the groundwater and the fruits and vegetables we handle and ingest. That's why the sight of these Melissa's organic potatoes individually-wrapped in petroleum-based plastic wrap* really struck me as a serious marketing misstep. The people who are buying organic potatoes in the first place will also be the first ones to balk at this kind of over-done packaging that seems to miss the whole point.

*Melissa's said they would look into the composition of the shrink wrap with their distributor and get back to us. They have yet to get back to us. -Ed.

Category: Media & Marketing, Packaging | Tags: food, marketing, organic, packaging, plastic, potatoes, produce, retail, waste

About the Author:

Timothy Hurst is the editor at Ecopolitology and Earth & Industry as well as the executive editor of the LiveOAK Media Network. He writes mostly about energy and environmental politics, clean tech, infrastructure and green business. When not reading, writing, or talking about environmental politics to anyone who will listen, Tim likes to ski, hike with his aging lab and get dirty in his Colorado veggie garden. Find Tim on Google+.

Follow Timothy Hurst on Twitter: @ecopolitologist

http://www.stephaniedean.com Stephanie Dean

I am currently working on a whole body of work called “Modern Groceries” that highlights the absurdities of food packaging.

Even if it’s corn based (not petroleum based), it’s still damn absurd. I understand logistical challenges of keeping food in the correct areas (esp since organic is so much more expensive than non organic) but i am in constant awe at individually wrapped fruits and vegetables. And their labels.

Great post!

SD

http://dibbsolutions.com Medisoft

I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that before, it’s such a waste!
Cassie

It is important to note that organic and sustainable are not synonymous, you can have organic without being sustainable and sustainable without being organic.

http://www.bathroommirrorsdirect.com/ David Mirrors

True, these two words might not be synonymous, but “organic” by definition means that the food was produced with the “ecological balance” in mind, so one would expect that it would go hand in hand with sustainability.

And organic farms are supposed to produce less waste; whatever waste they reduced in the production of these potatoes was sadly just compensated by the use of individual packaging

http://halfwayhomestead.blogspot.com Terri

No matter what the “plastic” is made of, it’s not necessary. Seems like NetRilla is just looking for a reason to nit-pick.
Uncle B

America faces convulsive paradigm shift from the petrolatum age, from a foreign liquid energy based economy to a domestic electric economy. America is forced in this direction by rising oil prices caused by dwindling world resources for oil and burgeoning Asian Growth demanding a larger share of finite world oil resources. Soon, those pesky plastic bags will be economical to mine from the land sites for their oil content. Americans will repent and conserve oil based products and ride electric bullet trains for their great economy. The Golden Age of America, when we drove Buick Electra 225′s for sport and entertainment on great asphalt roadways is long over – we no longer even build such contrivances, and the future holds much smaller battery conveyances, and life in large Soviet Era styled dorms, interconnected with electric trams and trains and subways to the Electric Bullet Train Network, and only a few very privileged will be allowed the oil-intensive airplane flights, and save for the military, airplanes will fly no more – and the great cruise ships, nuclear powered now, will ply the seas for intercontinental travelers. The grand age of cheap oil, the Cheap oil era is drawing to a close, and even China and Europe prepare for its end with Nuclear powered electric bullet train networks up and running as we speak. France, Nuclear powered, has a much higher living standard than America and Scandinavian Socialists are leaving oil behind as fast as they can! Germany the source of America’s rocket intelligence has made huge strides to becoming less oil dependent, and Denmark is almost oil-free! America and OPEC remain firmly wedded in the oil sin s of the world and will remain so until the oil starts to dwindle and for a long time after that. America has a longer time to withdraw from oil and will be weaned by price increases that will track Asian demands against dwindling flows at the well-heads of the world. We will soon all turn to organic, home grown, and make lawns into gardens out of necessity, due to higher oil prices, and slide gently away from our extreme 20th century dependencies towards a garden life akin to 18th century Europe, but with all modern technologies have to offer ameliorating our circumstances. Aquaculture will provide protein for millions of Americans and greens too, and for cheaper than the oil produced products. Meat consumption will go markedly down, and new-born Americans will become smaller in stature, brighter and faster in mind than their forefathers of the cheap oil era, and perhaps more numerous and a happier lot. Recycling will go to extremes and even a plastic bag on potatoes will be considered inappropriate and wasteful. Solar, Wave, Wind, Tidal, Hydro and Geothermal electric power will replace first oil energy then Nuclear as Uranium deposits are exhausted, leaving only the renewables or perpetual power, clean, sources if you please, left to serve mankind. A plastic bag on an organic potatoe is just not that innocent now, is it?

Joe

I read that whole thing, your insanity is absolutely astounding. It’s also fascinating. Write a book–I’d buy it.

g

No kidding. I’m with Joe. Uncle B, please write a blog and post links to it. I want to read some more of this stuff.

jc

What goes on in your mind???
lol

lol.. its like your in a parallel dimension where there is hope for humanity. the earth is keeping us around to harvest another few billion tons of plastic for her then will shake us off like flees.

http://www.emotionalcurrency.com Kate Levinson

An astounding post. Couldn’t help but notice the price on those individually wrapped potatoes. I just bought organic russets yesterday for 99 cents a pound at a local natural foods store. Looks like the club price of those Safeway, shrink-wrapped potatoes is $1.59 each. Imagine a bit of the added cost is for the packaging.

I ueard a bit of an interview with Anna Lappe. She has a new book, Diet for a Hot Planet, in which she apparently discusses the environmental costs of corporate, large scale farming versus smaller scale farming. So even though it’s great Safeway carries organic, they certainly don’t “get” sustainable practices.
BobbyD

download penn & tellers bullshit on organic foods. might open your eyes a bit. organic foods ARE GROWN WITH PESTICIDES…..they wouldn’t survive with out them, and usually most of them are outdated. wake up.
Organicguy

I buy organic because I don’t want to eat the chemicals that are soaked into non-organic foods.

I could care less about the plastic on these potatoes.

A.L. Smithey

Please see link below…Plastic ain’t going anywhere (except into the food supply)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
Mike

Lol

Serp Thron

I’d like to point out that the plastic may be there to maintain the organic integrity of these potatoes. If a piece of organic produce comes in contact with particular surfaces, substances, or pieces of conventional produces, it is not longer considered organic. The plastic wrap would ensure that this does not happen.

I”d also like to say, in response to BobbyD’s comment, that, yes, organic foods are grown with pesticides. However, the type of pesticides permitted for use in organic crops are heavily regulated.
Foodie D

Funnily enough, that packaging often tends to promote the growth of bacteria by keeping moisture at a stable level in the package. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen rotting vegetables in the grocery store that are individually wrapped up in plastic just because it’s become the perfect little incubator. The fact is the first thing any person knowledgeable about food does is take it out of any plastic container it’s housed in, dry it off, and refrigerate it properly keeping excess moisture to a minimum.
John

That’s the problem Serp.. They are not heavily regulated. There are regulations but they are far from strict. Heck people who tout they eat only free range chicken hardly know that to qualify for this, all they have to do is give them 5 minutes a day outside….5 minutes.
Will

Ummmm… why is it called Organic? Is regular food inorganic, because if so, why / how are we eating it? Honestly, if you are afraid of the chemicals in food, you are probably in trouble, given how much more is in the air. The chemicals wash out of your body anyway. Organic food is an excuse for companies like Traitor Joes and Whole Paycheck to charge more for a product that is not superior to regular produce and certainly inferior to anything grown in a home garden. By the way, next time you are shopping at one of these stores that market “Organic” food, ask them about how they rate on consumer guides and sustainability. Traitor Joes sells 17 of 23 highly endangered fish and refuses to comment on how unsound this business practice is. Wake up people!
Hank Fox

Actually, that sort of packaging is there for cooking. You can toss one of these potatoes into the microwave and nuke it for a few minutes and it comes out with a perfectly steamed interior.

Being a bachelor, I would actually probably buy one of these.

APasserby

Exactly! Do most of you people shop anymore? The instant I saw these potatoes, I recognized them as single serve microwaveable baked potatoes. That’s why it says, “Bakers” on then.

These are aimed less at green consumers and more at people who want a baked potato without the hassle of baking the potato.

Mike

Thus the oxymoronic nature of this fusion. Organic potatoes wrapped in plastic to be zapped in a microwave. Mmmm, tastes like chemicals. Is the irony not apparent or am I being trolled?

http://www.rsanow.com.au RSA QLD

That is the funniest thing I have seen today! Only putting them in individual, environmentally friendly cardboard boxes would be funnier! ;-P

I have been thinking fresh fruit and vegetables could go this way upon the introduction of those self-scanning checkouts that are popping up more and more. ie. easier for a machine to scan your potato than to properly identify and weigh it.

Mike

Exactly, and you can’t market a product if it doesn’t have packaging where you can put your brand label on it either. The irony of capitalistic organic.

J

You really do need to do your research. Organic foods use FAR more water then GE or foods that have been cultivated better. The damage they do to the environment is far worse because the organic PESTICIDES used are nowhere near as developed, they do get into the groundwater, and they are still chemicals. The organic movement is a croc that is hurting the world and simply adding to starvation in many areas of the world.
marshoutlaw

I just bought some bluberries the other day and i was very upset that they were not individually wrapped. They were ALL in one plastic container, really.
Hank Fox

Will said: “… why is it called Organic? Is regular food inorganic, because if so, why / how are we eating it? Honestly, if you are afraid of the chemicals in food, you are probably in trouble, given how much more is in the air. The chemicals wash out of your body anyway.”

Will, “organic” is admittedly a marketing buzzword. But the chemicals, some of them, don’t just simply “wash out of your body.” Sometimes they make changes, bad ones, such as cancer, allergic reactions, hormonal and neurological changes, etc.

Given that we DO know that food is adulterated during the growing and processing stages, it’s probably a good strategy to look for less-chemicalized stuff. Whatever else it might be, “organic” is a promise of foods that are less adulterated.
marshoutlaw

So the obvious reason for this is that nobody, not even rich people, will pay $50 for a sack of taters. These same rich people will buy a couple of these though, as they will feel that they must be high quality to go through the effort of individually wrapping them (gourmet potatoes). They will even convince themselves that they have health benefits and taste better. Maybe they’ll pity us poor folk with our plain old spuds. Let the rich have their fancily wrapped potatoes I say, and I hope they all shop at Whole Foods too, makes the lines smaller at the less insane stores.
Path

You know, some people might enjoy organic products without being uptight Eco-snobs. Just cause you want an organically grown food doesn’t mean you give a damn about the environment.
Venice

They are prewashed and wrapped so you can just put them in the microwave and cook them. It was meant to be a step eliminator for the busy people who don’t have time to wash, poke then wrap their potatoes.
Jeremy

“I buy organic because I don’t want to eat the chemicals that are soaked into non-organic foods.

I could care less about the plastic on these potatoes.”

You are aware that many plastics leach chemicals, especially when heated (say in a freight truck driving cross country being heated by the beating sun)?

Nick of Time

Or, say, heated in a microwave? I don’t use plastic anything in the microwave, only glass. And of late, I’m not even using the microwave. Plastic really is a horrendous chemical pollutant. It’s everywhere. I certainly would not microwave my food shrink-wrapped in plastic. Just try to get plastic out of your life. I don’t think we can…

http://www.freecreditreportsinstantly.org/ Inlay

The real trick is to then take these individually wrapped goodies and place them in a clear plastic bag. Then, after checkout, place that clear bag of organic potato goodness into a larger, brightly colored plastic bag. Then hop in your SUV and drive home. With the AC on. Take the scenic route.
http://www.hghtruth.org/ JM

ppl who eat organic food aren’t necessarily environmentally friendly… most ppl eat organic to avoid eating pesticide and other chemicals, and when it comes to meat it’s to avoid artificial hormones, etc.

it takes more resources to produce organic food, so in order to feed x amount of ppl, it’s more resource intensive and thus not necessarily better for the environment. only thing environmental about it is you won’t have runoff chemicals.
http://www.oneworldtosee.com/ Rey

Could be that some people eat organic food not because of the environmental impact, but because they don’t like eating things that have been sprayed with pesticides and such. Just a thought.
http://gutfeldt.ch/matthias/blog/ Matthias

Plastic wrapping is nothing! Here in Switzerland, we can buy organic food that’s been produced in California or New Zealand. And it’s sold in eco-friendly shops, too…
The Chemist

Just a heads up: There’s no such thing as a non-chemical fertilizer.

mmmmmm

uh, what would you call poop then? unless you’re referring to the fact that everything has a chemical makeup, then what you’re missing is called conversing in common english.

One Love

Doesn’t it have a lot to do with genetically modified foods (GMO) too? That stuff is intentionally design to kill you very slowly.

Depopulation is the name of the game, seriously. Look into it.

seriously

wow.. you would wear a tinfoil hat if you didn’t think it was going to microwave your brain

Hank Fox

One Love said: “That stuff is intentionally design to kill you very slowly. Depopulation is the name of the game, seriously. Look into it.”

Well, they’re already thought of that and come up with a solution to depopulation. It’s called the Catholic Church.
Jamie

One of the local grocery chains in St. Louis sells their branded organic green tea. Instead of using the age-old, biodegradable paper tea bag packaging they wrap each bag in plastic.
FD

Well, at least you know for sure it doesn’t have any containments. The plant based plastics leak toxins so that’s not good, paper or a net bag would leave you wondering what could have fallen on them on the way from the farm, but you could always wash them. But it’s not the worst thing to see.
michael

if that’s the case nothing is organic, unless they were delivered by a horse drawn cart and the store is powered only by solar.
http://www.stephaniedean.com Stephanie Dean

As for packaged for cooking – why then are those long English cucumbers individually wrapped? I love using those in my photographs because they are so hilarious!

After this post was posted first I bought 2 of these potatoes to photograph, but last night instead of photographing them i took them out of the plastic, cut them up, wrapped them in aluminum foil with butter, garlic, rosemary and rosemary salt and cooked them slowly over the grill. Amazing.

But it would have been just as good with any other potato! Or maybe not! These potatoes, were suspiciously smooth and nearly shapeless – none of the eyes and lumps of natural potatoes.

Any thoughts on why the cucumbers are wrapped individually?

wtfci

What kind of cucumbers?

what

some people just want to eat healthy but don’t really care about the environment

Mike

Lol, plastic leaching into your potato is not healthy!

st low

If it were not for the wrapping on the potatoes, people would PUT THEIR POTATOES IN A PLASTIC BAG. Think about it. Buying potatoes will result in plastic use ANYWAYS. Duh.

wtfci

Too many “greenies” are just really bad at math.

Don’t worry about it. The current President counts 57 states so we’ve got that going for us.
Mike

You don’t give people much credit. Pick out the potatoes up and throw them in the cart. Cashier weighs the potatoes then they are put in canvas or a back pack with the rest of the groceries. It is simple and easier than putting them in a bag to be put in a bag. Really.

Sarah

I’m amazed…Maybe no one reads the comments, or only like commenting on the ones they disagree on. It’s been pointed out numerous times.

Honestly, everyone – it’s done for a reason, not just to piss off hippies. You cook the potato in the plastic wrap to steam it in the microwave.

Mike

Yes, I do think people who are commenting understand the purpose for it, they just see the purpose as ironic. With that said people choose to eat or buy organic for a variety of reasons but even so the irony of fusing organic food and industrial plastics by literally wrapping them together is unavoidable.

http://artdecodiamonds.com antique love

This looks like a tremendous amount of wasted work and materials.
http://brooksidepatiofurniture.com/ Patio Garden Master

Why did they wrap the potatoes? You skin and cook them anyways…
Mike O

I thought food by definition was organic.
stew

I always get a chuckle out of the produce that’s pre-sliced and sold in those plastic tubs. The culinary laziness, and the disconnect between most westerners and real food, is astounding.
http://greenearthbazaar.com Michelle

I have to laugh at the irony of it all. I mean really, plastic-wrapped organic potatoes? Please! Now that’s just silly. I personally buy organic potatoes, but I wouldn’t buy those. Peace.
caglar keskin

Potatoes are one of the most common vegetables all over the world. They are cheap, easy to cook and have so many health benefits.
You can bake them, boil them, microwave them… everyone can make something to eat with potatoes.I will start to grow tomatoes
in my farm and now learning watever i can about them, thanks for information. I also found another good site
about potatoes and so many other methods of agriculturing, i recommend you to take a look.

http://agricultureguide.org/
Cameron Wilson

I am selling Certified organic potatoes for 99cents/lbs anyone interested.They are not wrapped in plastic. Cheiftain,Yukon Gold, Superiour
Thanks Cam
JBLUE

What a bunch of smarties we have posting comments. Yes, the individual plastic wrapped potatoes is super lame. I am on my own personal war against petro-plastics. We really need to be boycotting and writing mfgs to stop using and find better alternatives for the majority packaging. Granted petro-plastics will never go away, especially since they are already in the food change (see comment with the link about the Pacific ocean being crapped up with it).

Potatoes are one of the worst for the bad kind of pesticides. http://beyondgreen.weaversway.coop/2009/01/dirty-dozen.html

I buy only organic Cascadian potatoes for my child to eat.. Organic potatoes even taste better, sweeter. My only problem is to buy them costs more money and they have usually turned green from exposure to light in the grocery store. We just returned a 5 lb bag to the store near us. The other grocery store does sell them individual in a pile w/o the plastic wrap but even those you have to watch out for the green ones.

I would like to see some real science on how organic is so bad for the environment. Maybe some of the newbie big business jumping onto the bandwagon buzzword maybe be full of BS, but there are have been companies working for years to be Earth friendly, and I support them with my shopping dollars.
JBLUE

food change
should read
food chain
Pingback: Wasteful Food Packaging: Would you Like Some Food with your Plastic? | The Living Green Solution
http://rsaonlinecourse.net.au/ Blueprint RSA

I think organic potatoes should be grown,harvested and sell them in a natural way.. putting them in a basket or a container that will keep their freshness instead of keeping them wrap with a petroleum based plastic which is like destroying their natural elements and nutritional values.
http://www.outdoorlightsgalore.com/ Josh Balder

If I want organic foods, I certainly don’t need them to be packaged the way spoke of in this article. I can wash them myself.
mine shaft sinking

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kosta

Organic food is the way to go, packaged or not. The price is still a huge issue though.

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I agree, organic food, healthier and better nutritious, right?

http://weightlosswrap.com/ Your weight loss motivation Guy

It is best to have foodstuffs washed rather than have them packed. My mother would love this for sure.
http://greenreview.blogspot.com/ Veshengro

Please, please, please, say that this is an early April Fools and this is not really an organic potato grower who does this. Then again, it very much looks like it is for real. I mean I have seen lots of unnecessary packaging but I must say that this more than likely takes the biscuit.

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