More Products Added to Glyphosate-tested Program: Digestive Enzymes and Palm Shortening
Healthy Traditions has recently added the Tropical Traditions palm shortening and the Enriching Gifts digestive enzymes to its Glyphosate-tested program.
Tropical Traditions Coconut Oils and Coconut Products Now All Glyphosate-tested
Tropical Traditions has finished testing all of their coconut oils and coconut products for the presence of the herbicide glyphosate. They now have a system in place to test each batch of coconut oil or coconut products exported from the Philippines for the presence of glyphosate. The Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil also carries the "Traditionally Produced" label, since this coconut oil is not mass produced by machine. It is a traditionally produced coconut oil made by hand in small batches, much the same way people in the Philippines have produced it for thousands of years. Tropical Traditions was the first company to import virgin coconut oil from the Philippines in 2002, and it remains one of the only premium coconut oils in the United States that is still produced using traditional methods, rather than being mass-produced by machine.
German Alps Grass-fed Butter Added to Healthy Traditions Glyphosate-tested Products
Grass-fed Traditions and the Healthy Buyer's Club online store has now added the German grass-fed butter from the Allgäu region of Southern Germany to their product line of glyphosate-tested products.
Glyphosate Testing Skyrockets After WHO Report on Cancer
U.S. consumer groups, scientists and food companies are testing substances ranging from breakfast cereal to breast milk for residues of the world's most widely used herbicide on rising concerns over its possible links to disease. The focus is on glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. Testing has increased in the last two years, but scientists say requests spiked after a World Health Organization research unit said last month it was classifying glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." "The requests keep coming in," said Ben Winkler, laboratory manager at Microbe Inotech Laboratories in St. Louis. The commercial lab has received three to four requests a week to test foods and other substances for glyphosate residues. In prior years, it received only three to four requests annually, according to its records. Tests by Abraxis found glyphosate residues in 41 of 69 honey samples and in 10 of 28 soy sauces; Microbe tests detected glyphosate in three of 18 breast milk samples and in six of 40 infant formula samples.
Tropical Traditions Announces First GMO-Tested and Glyphosate-Tested Corn Now Available
For the first time in over a year, Tropical Traditions is selling corn again. For the past few years, Tropical Traditions offered an open-pollinated organic heirloom corn and corn meal to its customers, grown by small-scale family farmers in Wisconsin. However, in the Fall of 2013, they found out that this corn had become contaminated with GMO DNA, and they were no longer able to offer it to their customers. Tropical Traditions has a ZERO tolerance level for the presence of GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate in their products. After much searching, the farmers in Wisconsin were able to purchase some seed corn for the 2014 crop that was open pollinated, and had tested to be free from GMO contamination. Knowing how far the wind can blow pollen from corn field to corn field, the farmers determined that simply shielding their corn from neighboring farms was not sufficient protection. Therefore, they calculated the time frame where they knew their neighbors' corn would be pollinating, based on when it was planted, and then planted their open pollinated GMO-tested corn at a later date, so that it would pollinate after the surrounding farms' cornfields were finished pollinating. In the Fall of 2014, this corn tested to be free of both GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate. It is now offered to the public, shipped direct from the farm as either whole kernel, or stone ground fresh into a corn meal.
Tropical Traditions Announces New Glyphosate-tested Program
Brian Shilhavy, CEO of Tropical Traditions, sent a letter recently to Tropical Traditions customers explaining why the company has had so many of its products out of stock or back ordered at the beginning of 2015. Tropical Traditions found out in late 2014 that much of the USDA certified organic wheat supply in North America was contaminated with residues of the herbicide glyphosate. Tropical Traditions has been in the process of testing all of its products for the presence of glyphosate since that discovery. Besides organic wheat and other organic grains that were tested positive for glyphosate and removed from the Tropical Traditions product line, they also tested and found glyphosate present in organic flax seeds, organic hemp, and organic freeze-dried strawberries. Products containing those ingredients are no longer available on the Tropical Traditions websites. Tropical Traditions also announced that they will be phasing out the USDA organic certification on its products, and replacing it with their new Healthy Traditions logos.