What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is the is a form of marketing spin in which green PR (green values) and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly and therefore ‘better’ for us or the planet.

Some examples to watch out for:

Use of the word NATURAL.  THe FDA takes natural to mean that nothing artifical or synthetic has been added to a food that you normally would not expect to be there.  Also FDA policy states that "natural" does not convey and health or nurtitional benefits.

NON-GMO is being used all over packaging/products that don't contain any ingredients that could be GMO.  Good to note here that we have 10 GMO foods here in the USA: alfalfa, apple, canola, cotton, corn (sweet corn and field corn NOT POPCORN), papaya, potato, soybean, squash and sugar beets.

SUPERFOOD is just a marketing term.

CLEAN means nothing in particular.

Sustainably sourced. Consciously crafted. Ethically made.  ALL MEAN VERY LITTLE.  Claims that are not often backed up by much of anything.

Next time you are at the market, take a look at how many buzz words pop out at you.

Then just buy real food, no bag...no box.