Letters to the editor, September 2002

Ultra-pasteurized vs. pasteurized

Thank you for another great article in the Sound Consumer (Ask Goldie! August, 2002). Jerome McGeorge from Organic Valley told me that it’s a topic of much debate: ultra vs. regular pasteurization, but now I feel I know much more and I’ll be better equipped to talk to customers about it.
— Paul K., PCC Kirkland Deli

Real Change access

Are we losing our co-op? At our View Ridge store in early May, the Real Change vendor was banned four days of the week. In June, he was ordered to be farther away from the entrance (about 20 feet) and nearly invisible behind the carts, where he lost two-thirds of his remaining sales. At 14 percent of normal sales, no vendor could long remain. This was a ban against members who want access to Real Change.

Were there incidents of discourteous behavior? No! Not even one, according to the store director. Just some people complaining (continuously it seems) that they don’t want to “see” him there and if they must, they won’t shop here anymore. Sound like a co-op attitude or values to you? Me neither! We collect food for the poor but we’re not allowed to see them while they’re lifting themselves up (with our welcome)?

Well! Enough of us challenged this and corporate management reversed this policy of prejudicial intolerance. It seems to me this was managerial overstepping of authority. A store director temporarily suspending a vendor, for cause, is management, but a ban is a social policy issue and justly a matter that belongs to us and our elected representatives, the board. Otherwise, we are no better off than Safeway Club Card holders.

Let the board know what you think, lest this sort of thing happen again.
— Sidney Collins

The right to know

I was dismayed to see Nature Boy and Girl Diapers back on the shelves at the Greenlake PCC this afternoon, without (any) warning sign. Please remember that the core issue is that Nature Boy and Girl diapers DO NOT LIST SAPs (super absorbent polymers) AS AN INGREDIENT ON THEIR DIAPER PACKAGING.

The nature of the debate about whether SAPs are safe or not is really irrelevant. The only issue is that PCC customers cannot make an informed choice because the diaper company has chosen to not list SAPs in their ingredient list.

If Norsea Natural Products was truly acting in good faith, they would have long ago admitted that their ingredient list is incomplete.
— Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D., Columnist, Environment News Service, Professor, North Seattle Community College, Cascadia Community College, University of Phoenix

Editor replies: Unfortunately, federal labeling laws do not require full disclosure of ingredients in non-food items such as diapers, household cleaners, or even bodycare products. Sad, but true.