As for Clif and Luna – look here;
http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/hexane-soy/
http://www.cornucopia.org/hexane-guides/hexane_guide_bars.html

want to see who owns what? – look here:
http://www.cornucopia.org/who-owns-organic/

Whole Foods and imported Chinese products:
http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/03/should-whole-foods-like-google-get-out-of-china/

Dean foods and organic fraud;
http://www.cornucopia.org/Dean_HorizonTrailofTears.pdf

General imported food warning
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/china-food-risk/

Give a donation to the Cornucopia Institute if you can.

Best to all, and stay safe and healthy.

“In the midst of this recall, I can confirm wholeheartedly that nothing has changed in our Food Philosophy. We remain committed to using high quality, all-natural and organic ingredients in everything we make.

Our priority now is to look at our business practices to better understand the broader implications of the recall and indentify areas where we can raise the bar in quality and safety. It’s important to recognize we used our organic ingredients processed at the PCA facility only intermittently. We have no verification that any recalled products contain Salmonella. However, we’re taking precautionary steps to ensure consumer safety and trust in light of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ongoing investigation of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

The peanuts used in the PCA peanut butter were organic. They were sourced by another certified organic peanut supplier, NOT by PCA. PCA is an OCIA International-certified organic manufacturer. The USDA administers the National Organic Program (NOP) and gives accreditation to certifying agencies such as OCIA. These agencies certify producers and follow the regulations as set in the NOP which includes certain handling requirements for ingredients and facility procedures like being subjected to annual inspections to renew compliance and review of documentation.

Clif did not – and never does – use “institutional” peanut butter.All of our organic peanut butter is prepared based on our unique recipes and made in our own distinct batches. The PCA organic peanut butter was no exception. Our peanuts and peanut butter must meet our high standards, get approved by third-party quality auditors, pass rigorous Clif standards and food safety tests conducted by independent quality assurance labs. We test all peanut ingredients as they arrive and conduct microbiological tests on final products. We also taste-test every batch of product before we ship them to stores.”

I called and spoke to CostCo.
And later, the Cliff Bar representative today. They have a recall hot-line setup. But the girl was just reading from a script. She said that they do not use PCA but were undertaking a recall “as a precaution”. Why, did they use PCA or not? This makes no sense.

She had no answers.