Thursday, January 16, 2014

Organic Chia - What is the real story?


A number of people have called us wanting to know if our chia is organic. Here is what I tell them:

1.  Chia is a member of the mint family, as such insects never bother it, hence it is never sprayed with pesticides and residues are never found.  Often the FDA takes samples when we import chia, always looking for pesticide residues.  Never have they found any, since it is impossible to find them as the crop has never been sprayed.

2. The other issue is that there are people selling what they call "organically grown" chia.  This means absolutely nothing and is being used as a marking tool.  If you see this message, ignore it.

3. There are people selling what they claim to be "organic" or "certified organic" chia.  There is organic chia that is properly being certified available.  However it is easy to claim this, to arrange for documents that are misleading or to say it is organic when processed in an organic facility. Unless the crops was actually grown in properly certified fields, it is not organic.


Bottom line..........Buyer beware