Ingles ‘infomercial’ has no place in paper

Posted on by John Gray

I really must take exception to the "infomercial" written by Ingles dietitian Leah McGrath in last week’s Mountain Xpress. This kind of misinformation has no place in the Xpress. Her first point disputing the statement: "I buy local because it's organic," is pointless, except as a defense for non-local food.

Her second point, stating that the facts are still out on whether organic produce is better for you than pesticide-covered, GMO-engineered produce, will take more than one, cherry-picked article to prove. I don't understand how any dietitian can say with a straight face that eating pesticide-covered, irradiated, GMO-food grown mostly in depleted soil is on the same nutritional level as locally grown, organic produce grown in soil enriched by organic farming practices.

It's the third statement that is the most misleading: "Organic pesticides can present just as many risks to humans as synthetic pesticides." While I am sure that there have been isolated cases of organic pesticides that are not good for humans, a better statement would be that most organic pesticides are far better for humans (and the soil) than synthetic pesticides.

Response

Dear Mr. Gray, Ingles Markets believes that it takes all kinds of farms — local, organic, and conventional — to provide our customers all-year-round with the quality and variety of produce they expect. My article was meant to reflect the type of questions/comments I get from customers and my typical responses, with sources noted, of what I would tell them to clear up misconceptions and misunderstandings about organic produce.

As the dietitian for Ingles, I take pride in the fact that we have worked with [the] Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) (ASAP) for the past seven years to provide our stores with local produce and on many in-store events — you can see photos of our farmers hanging overhead in our stores. I know personally many of our local farmers and respect them, whether they grow organic or conventional crops. In a 2011 survey, ASAP found that 55 percent of those who mentioned the importance of local food responded that they shopped Ingles for local produce! (See ASAP’s press release at avl.mx/02o).

A 2013 report by the Center for Disease Control indicates that in North Carolina, 41 percent of adults reported eating fruit LESS than one time per day, and 22 percent reported eating vegetables LESS than once a day (see avl.mx/02p).

My primary intent as a dietitian is to take the fear out of food and encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables and to provide our consumers with reliable, science based nutrition information.

She closes by saying, "Big farms are not necessarily ‘bad’ farms and may have very efficient and ethical standards for crop and soil management." Sure, some "may" have ethical standards, but the reality is that the vast majority of big farms have terrible crop and soil management practices and profit is their number one motive.

In short, this is a poorly written and researched article that exists for the sole purpose of defending Ingles’ produce section, which contains mostly non-local and non-organic produce. While Ingles has every right to advertise their store in Mountain Xpress, I hope that the editors of this newspaper will not allow agenda-driven paid "articles" that blend in with the rest of the real articles in the paper that have journalistic integrity.

— John Gray
Asheville

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