There's What on my Cranberries?

'Tis the season to eat, and chances are good that last weekend you ate a whole lot of the season's favorite berry, the cranberry. Whether they come in a sauce, a bread, or even a cocktail, folks certainly get their fill of cranberries during the holiday season.

While I hate to ruin your holiday appetite (especially for a food that's actually good for you), let's talk about what's used on cranberries before they make it onto your dinner table. As you may imagine, the moist environment of a cranberry bog makes it attractive to a lot of pests. According to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association, the berries are somewhat adapted to fight pests naturally — through high tannin levels for example — but when the berries are grown commercially, pests become a bigger issue. You can see where I'm headed here.

In order to ward off bugs in a commercial operation, the cranberries get a serving of pesticides. Now, it's true that pesticides are not the only option employed by growers. Pests and weeds can be plucked by hand and growers also try to eliminate conditions most favored by creepy crawlies. Sometimes sand is poured over a layer of old organic material to block weeds and halt insect reproduction, much like a layer of mulch in a yard. Pesticides definitely play a big role, though. According to the Rodale Institute, one of the chemicals commonly used on cranberries is a known endocrine disruptor called chlorpyrifos. The Institute says this chemical has been linked to developmental damages even in low amounts. The Pesticide Action Network found 12 additional pesticides on cranberries that run the gamut from neurotoxins to known and probable carcinogens.

Another concern with cranberry bogs is water pollution. According to Rodale, bogs have typically been exempt from regulations when it comes to discharging water laced with pesticides and fertilizers into nearby bodies of water.

So how does one avoid eating pesticides and supporting chemical pesticide discharge in our waterways? As is often the case, the best solution is to buy organic cranberries. That seems simple enough. You don't eat cranberries that often, so when you go to get the ingredients for Mom's famous relish this year, you spend a little bit more knowing that it's better for you and the environment.

That being said, the most famous brand of cranberries and cranberry juice is Ocean Spray. After a call to the company's customer service line, I was told that Ocean Spray doesn't currently produce any organic products at all. That's a big deal considering Ocean Spray's chunk of the market. According to one of its growers, the company dominates 65 percent of the cranberry industry.. Sixty-five percent of the market and no organic products whatsoever? Let's change that. Sign our petition asking Ocean Spray to create organic product lines.

Photo credit: Muffet via Flickr