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All You Wanted To Know About Organic Food
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Organic Foods: What’s All The Fuss?
As more people become aware of the importance of nutrition in chronic disease prevention and management, more and more concerns arise about which foods are better for consumption.
- You have, on the one hand, a conventionally grown apple.
- You have one that’s organic on the other. Both look fundamentally the same.
- Both contain fiber and vitamins, and both are fat, sodium, and cholesterol-free.
You might find yourself asking the daunting questions: Is there a difference other than the price? Is it healthier or more nutritious? Why do some people buy it? Get the facts before you decide.
What Does Organic Really Mean?
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the whole world was eating food we now call organic. Our ancestors grew and lived eating foods produced with little to no chemicals used.
Why did that change? Well, the Industrial Revolution, Globalization, Capitalism, are all to blame. In reality, when the term “organic” was first used in the 1930’s, it had no specific meaning. It was used by people who questioned industrial farming techniques.
Nowadays the term organic refers to food produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Such standards vary worldwide, but in general, include a more holistic and ecologically balanced approach to farming.
Theoretically, organic food production should:
• Use of fewer pesticides.
• Apply techniques to reduce soil erosion.
• Use biological fertilizers.
• Recycle any and all animal waste.
In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees and enforces the National Organic Program (NOP). Some of the more relevant standards that USDA certified organic foods need to meet are:
- Grown and processed according to federal guidelines addressing soil quality, animal raising practices, pest and weed control, and the use of additives.
- Organic producers should rely on natural substances and physical, mechanical, or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.
- Produce can be called organic if it’s certified to have grown on soil that had no prohibited substances applied for three years before harvest.
- As for organic meat, regulations require that animals are raised in living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors, fed 100% organic feed and forage, and not administered antibiotics or hormones. The USDA Organic certification requires that farmers and handlers document their processes and get inspected every year.
In Canada, organic food has been regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) since June 2009. In order to get the Canada Organic label, products must meet the Canadian Organic Standards. The standards lay out the specifics of organic production, which are very similar to those for the U.S. Same as the USDA, only products with at least 95 per cent organic content may be labelled as “organic”.
Not surprisingly, about 70 to 80 per cent of organic products in Canada are imported, primarily from the U.S. This is because a mutual agreement exists between the U.S and Canada recognizing each other’s standards.
Main Takeaways
• “Organic” refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed.
• Regulations vary from country to country.
• In the U.S. and Canada, organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, and sewage sludge-based fertilizers.
• Organic meat products must be grown without antibiotics (Canada has some exceptions), growth hormones or GMO food sources. Fact: more than 95% of animals used for meat and dairy in the United States eat GMO crops.
What Are The Benefits Of Organic Food?
The truth is that there is limited evidence of organic foods being more nutritious than non-organic foods. Having said that, some of the most recent studies have shown a moderate increase of some nutrients in organic foods. Flavonoids are found in higher concentration in organic produce. Likewise, organic meat and dairy products tend to have higher contents of Omega-3 fatty acids.
One indisputable benefit of organic produce is their reduced content of synthetic pesticides. It has been scientifically proven that pesticides can cause short-term adverse health effects, as well as chronic adverse effects that can occur months or years after exposure.
Among the short-term health issues that pesticides can cause are stinging eyes, rashes, blisters, blindness, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, and even death in extreme cases. Examples of long-term potential health problems are cancers, birth defects, reproductive harm, neurological and developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, and disruption of the endocrine system.
Infants and young children are known to be more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides. If you are really curious and want to know more about the effects of specific chemicals or pesticide products, see Pesticide Action Network’s Pesticide Database. For a survey of scientific studies linking pesticides to specific diseases, see Beyond Pesticides’ Pesticide-induced diseases database.
Another controversial claim from organic food defenders is the absence of growth hormones in organic meat and dairy products. To date, there are no studies that show a solid answer on this topic. However, it is interesting that the EU has banned all hormones in beef (even for conventional non-organic farms) and the Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which is a synthetic cow hormone that encourages milk production, has been banned in Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The last strong positive that organic foods offer is related to the absence of antibiotics in the meat and dairy products. Although this is still a hot point of debate, and there is no conclusive evidence that antibiotics in foods harm people directly, most researchers agree that the over-use of antibiotics in food-producing animals is a problem. It can contribute to the development and spread of drug-resistant bacteria, which is a potential risk to public health.
Main Takeaways
• There is some evidence that organic foods have higher nutritional content than conventional foods, particularly flavonoids in produce and Omega-3 fatty acids in meat and dairy products.
• Organic produce has lower detectable levels of synthetic pesticides, which are scientifically proven to be harmful for human beings, especially infants and children.
• Although studies are limited and inconclusive, most agree that meats and dairy products, free from hormones and antibiotics, are safer to consume.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Organic Food?
The most noticeable downside to organic food is its cost. Many buyers believe that the primary factor behind the high prices of organic foods is fashionable environmentalism. There could be nothing farther from reality.
Organic food prices reflect higher agricultural production and processing costs. Naturally grown foods cost more because of more costly, slower, and more labor-intensive methods of production. Also, the prices of organic food are often highly affected by legal legislation and subsidies. This has, sadly, contributed to organic items being viewed as luxury goods.
The good news is that, as organic options multiply, the price premium decreases. Producers are encouraged to enter the organic market as more customers purchase organic goods.
In basic economics, production rises cause prices to decline. In the U.S., organic foods cost an average of 7.5 percent more than traditional foods in 2019, according to Nielsen. That was down from a 9 percent premium in 2014.
It is also possible to find organic products cheaper or at the same price than their conventional counterpart. This is especially true for in-season, locally farmed products.
Another disadvantage of organic foods is the possibility of them having a shorter shelf life. This is due to the fact that they do not contain any form of artificial preservatives. Likewise, organic products do not undergo any irradiation procedures.
Main Takeaways
• The most concerning disadvantage of organic food is its cost.
• The price premium is falling as more consumers choose organic products and organic options multiply.
• Organic foods might go bad quicker than conventional foods, since organics do not contain artificial preservatives or undergo irradiation procedures.
The Bottom Line
To recap, organic food used to be the normal up until the early 1900’s, when industrialization started to take over conventional farming techniques.
Now you know that organic standards vary by country and are tailored to local climate and growing conditions. In general, those standards are meant to make food production safer and more sustainable for the environment and the consumers.
Although there is limited research and inconclusive findings, there is evidence that organic foods could be more nutritious and much safer for human consumption.
Because pesticide types and concentrations vary from crop to crop, one approach is to choose organic for products that tend to have the highest concentrations of pesticides, or that cannot be thoroughly washed. For more on this, check out our comprehensive Organics Cheat Sheet for Conscious Eating.
There are no known negative effects of organic food in humans, other than its cost and potentially shorter shelf life. Some ways to help you stay within your food budget while purchasing some organic foods are shopping at farmer’s markets, buying products in-season, and comparing prices online and at different stores.
Conscious Eating Tips
Organic or not, for the best nutrition and health benefits, keep the following tips in mind when grocery shopping and before consuming produce:
- Choose a variety of fresh foods from different sources.
- Prefer fruits and vegetables in season and locally farmed.
- Read food labels carefully (some organic products may still be high in sugar, salt, fat, or calories).
- If possible, buy organic meat and poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
- Always wash and scrub fruits and vegetables thoroughly with a baking soda solution to minimize exposure to pesticide residues.
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