By Carol McCracken (Post 581)

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and other major retailers are facing a lawsuit against them for “misleading consumers in the marketing of organic milk,” according to a press release from “Sustainable Food News.” The plaintiff claims that Wal-Mart, Wild Oats’ store brand and several others marketed their contents as organic when they are not.

GustOrganics has recently introduced New York City to a new concept – the first certified organic street cart. GustOrganics, is the first certified organic restaurant in NYC. It’s located on 519 6th Avenue, Manhattan, provides all the organic food and drinks that are prepared daily and exclusively for the cart.

The new cart is located on 53rd Street and Park Avenue, Manhattan. It uses solar panel technology, biodegradable packaging and other eco-friendly practices. Organic lunches are available for under $10. + tax. The menu includes tenderloin, chicken and vegetables, fajitas grilled to order, salads, soups, quinoa, hummus and empanadas. No bottled drinks are servedand super-purified city water is served in biocompostable cups. The cart is also equipped with an organge juice machine, so freshly squeezed orange juice is made to order.

“…OrganicCarts NYC aims to take over many of the existing NYC food carts currently serving conventional, processed food and transorm them into something better-providing only certified organic food and using truly green practices,” the company said if this prototype proves successful.

“Sustainable Food News” is an on-line only newsletter to the organic food industry. For more information, please call Dan McGovern, publisher at (207) 749-5249. McGovern lives on the Hill.