Plastic Containers are Inappropriate for Greens

Green superfoods should not be packaged in plastic. That's because plastic cannot protect the contents from nutrient loss. Plastic can also contaminate food. CNN confirmed contamination with an article about toxic chemicals. The article discussed toxic chemicals contained in plastics.

To Avoid Toxins, Eating Organic is Not Enough

Many consumers recognize the danger of eating foods with GMO ingredients made from soy and corn. They avoid those foods so they can avoid residues of poisons used to kill weeds and pests. Unfortunately, even if you consume Certified Organic foods, your diet may still contain toxins if you eat foods packaged in plastic.

Although plastics contain many chemicals, two are of particular concern. Phthalates make plastic containers pliable so you can squeeze them.  BPA is another and is found in hard plastic products. Both chemicals may pose cancer risks.  Both mimic natural hormones and fool the endocrine system. When ingested those even at very low levels, these chemicals can cause reproductive problems. Some companies claim their containers are BPA or phthalate-free, but plastic still contains other harmful chemicals.  

Plastic containers are made from fossil fuel.  Food or water packaged in them is in contact with those petrochemicals.  The food and the petrochemicals can mix with each other. To see an example of the mixing, examine a plastic superfood container after you finish it.  If the container was white, the inside has become tinted with the color of the superfood.  If the food is mixing with the plastic, the plastic is mixing with the food!

Plastic Offers No Protection from Oxidation

Another problem with plastic containers and packets is nutrient loss through oxidation.  To prevent it, superfoods require oxygen-free glass bottles for maximum nutritional density. Superfoods in plastic containers or packets easily oxidize and lose potency.  Even if a product had good quality when packaged, it oxidizes and loses quality while sitting in a warehouse or on a store shelf. 

 PLASTIC VS PINES

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Nutrient-dense green superfoods such as alfalfa and wheatgrass are particularly subject to oxidation. That's why for 40 years, Pines has used oxygen-free glass bottles.

The History of Using Oxygen-Free Glass Bottles

The use of oxygen-free packaging goes back more than 80 years to Charles Schnabel, who is known as "the father of wheatgrass."  He led a team of scientists that studied cereal grasses and alfalfa. His research is the foundation for the use of wheatgrass.  The result of his research is why Ann Wigmore and other authors have praised Schnabel.  Schnabel provided his dark green vegetable powders to doctors and hospitals for their published studies. He packaged those nutrient-dense leafy green powders and tablets in amber glass bottles with special metal caps. That allowed the removal of oxygen and sealing the oxygen-free bottles to prevent oxidation.

Pines follows Dr. Schnabel's standards, including his packaging methods.  For 40 years, Pines has packaged in oxygen-free amber glass bottles with those special metal caps.  Until about 20 years ago, nearly all quality superfood companies used that kind of packaging.  Now, to save money, many have resorted to less nutritious greens in plastic containers and packets.

Redo Three

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A Depleted and Contaminated Aquifer

Consumers should be concerned about the facilities used to produce the greens in many superfood blends.  Instead of clean, modern, 100% organic facilities like those used by Pines, most greens come from old alfalfa dehydrators built years ago for the meat industry.  

We grow our greens without using irrigation. The only other Kansas producer grows in a dry region of our State. They have to use irrigation. That requires pumping irrigation water from the Ogallala Aquifer. Although once an abundant and clean water source, growing crops with herbicides for the meat and ethanol industry depleted and contaminated this once-pristine ground water supply.

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Plastic for Certified Organic Products?

PINES is the only producer of green superfoods that grows its own ingredients on fields near where we bottle and ship.  As a result, we outsource nothing.  We do it all from planting the seed to filling our oxygen-free glass bottles.

Most companies use contract manufacturers who mix and bottle to the specifications of the company that hired them. No producer except PINES and those who source their greens from PINES can say that all their ingredients in their green superfood came from 100% organic farms.  No other whole food greens producers use 100% organic facilities like those used by PINES, and none use oxygen-free glass bottles.  Further, other producers produce both organic and non-organic products.  At PINES, we do not believe the USDA Organic Certification should allow such "dual farming" operations. 

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