Reaching The Point Of Absurdity

I'll admit, I don't have much against Wal-Mart. Recently there was talk in the town where I live that the chain was looking to build here, and I was against it. That wasn't because I think they are evil, but I just would prefer a buffer between my little town and the suburban sprawl of the Twin Cities. (Plus, Wal-Mart wanted to put a stoplight on a 65mph highway. Sorry, but no way.) In fact, there already is a Wal-Mart about 7 minutes away, so I'm pretty sure nobody here is Wal-Mart deprived.

Then I read this from CNN: Wal-Mart accused of 'organic fraud'

A policy research group is accusing Wal-Mart of "organic fraud," the latest controversy to arise as the world's largest retailer pushes into the organic food industry.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which promotes sustainable farming, claims Wal-Mart (Charts) is defrauding its customers by mislabeling non-organic products as organic.

The policy group said it conducted checks of Wal-Mart stores in five states and discovered labeling violations in virtually all of the "dozens of stores" it visited.

Wal-Mart, which uses green signs to identify organic selections at its stores, said any shelf labeling mistakes are isolated events and that it often mixes organic and conventional products on its shelves to make it easer[sic] for customers to find organic options.

"Although Wal-Mart has more than 2,000 locations that may offer up to 200 organic selections in addition to thousands of non-organic offerings, we believe it to be an isolated incident should a green organic identifying tag be inadvertently placed by or accidentally shift in front of the wrong item," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

But Cornucopia claims the retail behemoth isn't doing enough to address the problem.

Oh please, for the love of God Almighty, give me a break. The protests of the "policy research group" cannot make sense to anyone who has EVER shopped in a supermarket. At any given store how many things are mislabeled? 10 to 15 percent maybe? These stores are restocked every day, sometimes several times a day. Errors are simply a part of life. Does that mean that the shopper will have to take care to get exactly the product they want? Absolutely. Welcome to the 20th century.

The word "fraud" demands they prove deliberate deception, not that Wal-Mart is generally sloppy, just like every other grocery store on Earth.

Wal-Mart said its stores are sent guidelines for placing identification tags and that it works with its stores to make sure the tags are accurate. The USDA certification label on the actual packaging of organic items also helps customers verify products as organic, the company said.

[emphasis added]

I'm not saying you have to love Wal-Mart, but it would help if your complaints made at least a little bit of sense.