I've been aware for a few years that more often than not, in fact I haven't found otherwise, that organic peanuts are from China; there are Fairtrade options too, in China.

Recently I received an email from Meridian Foods concerning this.

Organic Peanut Butter 1kg – this batch was made with Organic Chinese Peanuts. Currently the Organic peanuts coming from China are the most reliable and best quality in the market. I appreciate your comments on the sourcing concerns around China however, please be assured that we take every possible measure to ensure these peanuts do comply with the very strict Organic guidelines. At present we hold good stock of Organic Peanuts from China and will be using these in the coming months. As you are no doubt aware the price of peanuts has rocketed in the past few months. This has particularly affected the conventional peanuts and hence we have had to raise the prices of our conventional peanut butter by 25% however, the Chinese are producing really good harvests of Organic peanuts which has meant that we have only raised this price by 8%. If we were sourcing Californian Organic Peanuts we probably would have moved over 15%. So, commerciality is a factor as well.

I have discussed (albeit informally) your suggesting on indicating the country of origin of the nuts somewhere on the packaging. We are restricted by Trading Standards as to how much we can print next to the BEST Before date and we do change the origin of our nuts fairly frequently. So, whilst I buy into your suggestion completely I am afraid that the practicalities will probably get in the way.

Darren Robinson: Head of Sales

3V Natural Foods Limited
The Estate Office, Stockbridge Road, Sutton Scotney, SO21 3JW

Tel: 01962 761935 ext 120 :: 07766 252392

Meridian Foods Limited www.meridianfoods.co.uk
Rocks Organic Limited www.rocksorganic.com