Organic Goji Berries by David Wolfe

“Shazzie, my co-author on our book Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth About the World’s Greatest Food summarized the impact of a current lack of organic goji berries on the world market beautifully in her recent January 2008 newsletter.  Here are her words:

“The 2007 [goji] harvest was [mostly] contaminated with pesticides and therefore cannot be sold as organic. We could import and sell these berries as non-organic but this does not fit with our ethos. This means that there are very few genuinely organic goji berries available in the world now and so please be careful to check your sources if buying from elsewhere.”

We agree with her totally.  Getting organic goji berries from China is difficult, expensive, and requires lots of attention to detail.  Fortunately, we are proud to announce that it appears we have secured enough organic goji berries to supply you and your family in 2008!

You may have seen “wildcrafted” goji berries on the market.  These berries are not wildcrafted (all goji berries sold on the worldwide market today are grown on farms – they are not wild).  These berries are also sprayed with sulfur dioxide.  If you are unsure of your goji berry source, ask for a certificate that demonstrates that the sulfur compounds on the berries are below 20 ppm.  Typical, “wildcrafted” goji berries contain 1200-2000 ppm of sulfur dioxide.  Sulfur dioxide is a chemical preservative that does not meet the standards for a USDA organic certification.

We believe strongly in the ethics of organic farming.  By no means is organic food perfect, but it is certainly a better start than chemical agriculture and genetically modified crops.  At Sunfood Nutrition, just the organic certification alone is not enough, we demand even higher standards in all our bestselling products and do independent testing on our these products.

Here is a list of three past tests on www.sunfood.com’s goji berries:

Organophosphate Pesticides in Soils, Plant Tissue, and Water

Organophosphate Pesticides – None Detected

Naled (Dibrom)
Permethrin
Demeton S
Dichlorvos
Deltamethrin
Mocap

Pirimiphos-methyl
Phorate
Malathion
Phosdrin

Fenvalerate (Sanmarton)
TDE
Diazinon
Pirimicarb
Me-Parathion
Disulfoton
Fenchlorfos

Oxydemeton-methyl
Tokuthion

Dimethoate (Cygon)

Tetrachlorvinfos
Fenithrothion
Fenthion

Dyfonate (Fonofos)
Merphos – B

Imidan (Phosmet)

Dursban (Chlorpyrifos)

Fenamiphos – (Nemacur, Phenamiphos)

Fensulfothion
Phoxim
Sulprofos

Methamidophos (Monitor)
Guthion

Co Ral (Coumaphos)

Carbophenothion
Ethion

Ethyl Parathion

Detection Limit = 0.05 ppm

Water = 0.01 ppm

Detection limit may be higher due to matrix interferences.
Chlorinated Pesticides in Soils, Plant Tissue, and Water

Chlorinated Pesticides = None Detected

BHC-A (Alpha-Hexachlorocyclohexame)

BHC-B (Beta-Hexachlorocyclohexane)

BHC-D (Delta-Hexachlorocyclohexane)

BHC-G (Lindane)

Endrin Aldehyde
Heptachlor

Dylox (Trichlorfon)
Captan
Mirex
Aldrin

Chlorpyrifos-Methyl

Heptachlor Epoxide

Chlorpyrifos (Dursban)

Endosulfan I and II
Methoxychlor

Endosulfan Sulfate
Chlordane
4, 4 DDE
Quintozene
4, 4 DDD
Esfenvalerate
4, 4 DDT
Fenvalerate
Dieldrin

Mavrik (Tau-Fluvalinate)
Endrin
Alachlor
Pyrethrum
Chlorfenvinfos
Cypermethrin

Detection Limit = 0.05 ppm

Water = 0.03 ppm

Detection limit may be higher due to matrix interferences.

Carbamates in Soils, Plant Tissue, and Water = None Detected

Aldicarb (Temik)

Aldicarb Sulfoxide

Aldicarb Sulfone

Carbaryl (Sevin)
Carbofuran

3-Hydroxy Carbofuran
Methiocarb

Methomyl (Lannate)

Oxamyl (Vydate)

Propoxur (Baygon)

Detection Limits = 0.002 ppm in water

= 0.02 ppm in soil and plant tissue

Detection limit may be higher due to matrix interferences.

We believe in protecting our customers by maintaining extraordinary quality standards. Please let us deal with the testing, hassles, paperwork, and certifications, so you don’t have to! That’s our job.”

Click here to buy Organic Goji Berries from David Wolfe now.