Zeer Green Team Series – What Is Organic Food, Anyway?
Words like organic, green and local have celebrity status in the blogosphere these days and Treehugger is definitely the TMZ for all the greenest gossip.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing shallow about the green movement and I totally support eating organic food, buying greener products and choosing locally made products over those shipped vast distances, but sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the changing tides. So, this is part one of series I’m doing to help consumers see all sides of the picture and help get closer to the meaning of these loaded words.
Today I’m focusing on one word “Organic” specifically, organic food.
What Is Organic Food?
The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) defines organic food as:
Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.
So, if you’re trying to go organic, it should be easy right. Organic means all products that don’t use antibiotic, growth hormones, conventional pesticides…it sounds positively Utopian. However, with only a small percentage of the farms growing products that are up to the USDA standard, it’s difficult for huge chains like Walmart (who recently realized that buyers will pay a premium for products they consider organic) to get all the materials needed to produce these products– organically.
As MSNBC’s article on What Does ‘Organic Really Mean’ One of the misleading problems with organic foods is that unless the product is labeled 100% organic, it could contain up to “5 percent non-organic ingredients by weight — if those ingredients are on the USDA’s national list of approved non-organic ingredients.”
One of the questions looming for me personally is, if you’re paying a premium for an organic product, why would you want to settle for a product that is mostly organic? Though you might be supporting and ingesting 95% organically produced products, that %5 is made up of the exact materials you’re trying to escape. Though your beer may be labeled organic and all the other materials are organic, but the hops are not, isn’t that somewhat misleading?
How Can I Tell if a Product is Organic?
Certification is a beautiful thing. When wondering if your product is organic or not, look for the USDA Certified Organic label. Keep in mind that some products may claim their product is organic, but if they don’t have the seal, that means that no one can back up their claims. Perhaps it’s partially organic or some materials are Organic. The USDA seal means that the product is 95% to 100% organic.
Also, USDA can change their guidelines at anytime. In 2007, Epicurean covered the USDA’s decision to issue standards on “grass-fed” animals. Before the ruling, animals could be fed a grass fed diet for a certain part of their life, before being shifted to a conventional one. So, be sure to keep abreast on organic issues so you know what you’re getting, how it’s being produced, etc because rulings are changing everyday.
Also, keep in mind that a product is NOT 100% organic unless it says so on the label. Also familiarize yourself with the 38 ingredients that could be put in “USDA organic”-labeled foods even though they are not grown organically. Right now a petition is circling the internet to try to get the USDA to reconcider its decision to allow the 38 non-organic ingredients. If you believe that only products made with 100% organic ingredients should be considered USDA grade, consider signing this petition.
Why Do Organics Cost More?
When I consider the option of eating food treated with pesticides to organic food, I tend to lean toward “no pesticides please” but the cost of organic food in a sinking economy with high gas prices well – that leaves a lot of “swing eaters” (like myself, unfortunately) who eat organic only sometimes but as soon as the prices shoot through the roof – well, they’ll sacrifice their $5 free-range eggs for good ol’ Stop and Shop Brand.
Organic food is more expensive because it produces far less yield (10%-20% less than conventional farms) and because there are fewer organic farms in practice today that are considered USDA approved. However, studies have shown that with certain yields, an organic farm can produce more for less in the long run and are better for the environment. When you consider the cost of food prices vs the cost supporting farms that damage human health and the environment, the answer seems clear, but it’s hard to negotiate all the benefits when you’re holding a $12 bag of grapes in your hand. Another thing to consider is the labor differences when comparing organic to conventional farming. To avoid using her herbicides, organic farms turn to old fashioned manual labor because certain vegetables like carrots, onions must be weeded by hand. This process may be yield healthier benefits for you and the environment in the long run, but it comes at a price and simply put all this manual labor is time consuming. And the thing about time? It’s money.
So, when you’re trying to decide between a $7 pack of organic strawberries and a conventional batch that costs far less, it can be difficult to know how to proceed. On one hand, you have conventional farming which uses synthetic fertilizers, synthetic hormones, and pesticides — on the other hand, you have $4 extra dollars in your pocket. If people knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that organic food could put years on their life, those $4 extra dollars would be nothing compared to what you’d gain. The problem right now is, no one study can guarantee it for sure and medical institutes like Mayo clinic won’t lean one way or another on the topic.
If you’re looking for a little reprieve from the cost of organic food, organic moms and organic enthusiasts have a few tips including Organic Mania, that suggests replacing high cost grapes with lower cost plums and Chicago Mom suggests joining a community farm or food growing program to alleviate cost.
Is Organic Food Better For Me?
Everyone wants to know, is organic food better for me – is it worth the cost – that my dears, is up to you. We all want easy answers, but I’m afraid in the case of organic fruit, that assurance doesn’t look like it’s coming anytime soon thanks to recent study that claims that Organic Food has no more nutritional value than food grown with pesticides. I found this study shocking, especially since a few other studies in the past years have made completely opposing claims. A study done in 2003, right before the boom of the health food movement, announced proudly that organic food has more cancer-fighting antioxidants than food treated with pesticides. While a study as recently as 2007 said that organic kiwis had more “health-promoting factors” than regular fruit grown with pesticides.
How heavily effected fruits and vegetables are affected by pesticides, depends on the item in question. Delicious Organics, an organic food delivery service, has an interesting, easy to understand list of all the fruits and vegetables highly contaminated by pesticides. If you have an interest in going Organic in a slipping economy, this list is priceless because it offers some reprieve. You can still eat organic on the foods that really matter, and as gas prices slip down again and organic foods gain some leverage, we might be able to eat organic more confidently. I know I will.