Photo by smith
Day three of Matador Life Food Week takes a step into the world of food politics. Organic: Should we or shouldn’t we?
Organic food grows without artificial chemicals. So no toxic pesticides or herbicides accumulate in your body; no nasty fertilizers contaminate your water supplies; no dodgy growth hormones pollute your meat. Organic means purer than a virgin in a chaste white dress made of snowflakes. Better for you, and better for the environment. Right?
Maybe, maybe not.
Here are six common organic claims to ponder when trying to decide if you want to turn your eating habits toward the organic.
1. There is a clear definition of “organic.”
Although there is a broad consensus, each country has its own certifying body, with different requirements for what can and can’t be labelled “organic”. Some of these organizations are run by government, and others by private sector companies or NGO’s. In some countries they are regulated by law, and in others they aren’t.
Countries such as the UK have more than one certifying body, which – providing they meet a certain base level – can each work to different standards. It’s a proper organic gong show.
And spinning off this are all sorts of clever, manipulative marketing terms that aren’t necessarily regulated at all. You can buy “natural” oats, or “home-grown” spinach. Thanks, but I’d rather my spinach were grown in a field. And what the hell does an unnatural oat look like? Perhaps we are talking supernatural oats, the ghosts of porridge past.
2. “Organic” means entirely organic
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography
Not quite. In the UK and the USA, for example, “organic” means 95% of the ingredients in the food are organic. And in the USA, “made with organic ingredients” means as little as 70% of the ingredients are organic. The remainder can be all sorts of synthetic crap, such as food dyes, starches and gelatin.
The idea that no artificial chemicals are used during production is also misleading. The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is about as transparent on this as a bucket of prime manure: its definition of organic farming refers merely to the “restricted use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.” Oh. Kay.
3. Buying organic supports small farms
Maybe this was true 30 years ago, when you bought your fruit and veg off your local farmer, and he assured you the carrots were so knobbly “Coz they’z all bein’ organic.” No need for any certification back in the good old days.
But now organic food has gone mainstream. It’s regulated. There’s permits and paperwork and payments gone in to those pesticide-free potatoes. Not all small farms can afford this.
And you are just as likely to find organic produce in supermarkets as in farmers’ markets. Perhaps more so. Which means organic food is big business, and a large demand needs a large supply.
Lots of organic brands are owned by those corporations we love to hate, such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and ConAgra. Check out these cool – and scary – infographics on the structure of the organic food industry in North America.
4. Organic food is expensive
It’s true, organic food is generally more expensive than conventional stuff. Sometimes crazily so. That bunch of organic grapes may well taste sweet and juicy, and might even be healthier for me. At that price the pips should be semi-precious stones, and the grapes should come with a free servant trained in the ancient art of palm frond fanning.
Such disparity may well not be the case for long. Modern farming techniques are super-dependent on oil, which is used to produce the fertilizers and other chemicals needed. As the cost of oil rises, conventionally produced food should become more expensive. Organic farming will have to deal with increased transport costs, but that’s it.
Furthermore, the ever rising demand for organic food should, in theory, lead to a decrease in prices. Here’s hoping, anyway.
5. Organic farming can’t feed the world
As I write this, I can already hear the gnashing of genetically modified teeth, and taste the insecticide that will be used to put me out of my misery.
Photo by sarniebill1
Many people claim that organic farming is too inefficient to meet the needs of the world’s growing population. That food production must double by 2050, and the only way forward is to bung a load more chemicals at a load more GM franken-crops.
But organizations like the Soil Association disagree with this, claiming there are a number of faulty assumptions. One is that we need to feed the world using our unhealthy, Western style, meat-rich diet.
They reckon that “fairer diets and better distribution of food” is more important than increased production, and that organic farming is perfectly capable of providing for us all, as long as we radically overhaul our relationship with food.
And according to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, if we increased the average agriculture yield across the planet to the level that’s possible using organic farming techniques, we’d be producing around 50% more food anyway.
6. Organic automatically equals good
This is sloppy thinking. Granted, organic farming releases less nastiness into the environment, and promotes biodiversity. Granted, organic food contains fewer toxic chemical residues, and so is probably healthier to eat. Hell, it might even be richer in nutrients, but we’ll let the scientists fight that one out.
But there are a whole host of other factors to take into account, not least all those resources consumed during food production, packaging and distribution. Transporting organic food half way round the world, into another climate and season, seems to defeat the purpose. It’s far more important to eat local, seasonal food.
And if it’s true that “you are what you eat”, I’d rather eat the locally grown Egyptian mango – however it was grown – than the organic one shipped in from abroad.
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What do you think about organic food? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Funny to think that at one point on this planet, all things grown were organic because there wasn’t any other way of doing things.
Nick, you mention you’d rather be a local mango. I tend to that side of things as well. I’d much rather support my immediate environment, create a smaller eco-footprint and local farmers. Then simultaneously work toward using fewer toxins and pesticides.
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Ditto. I do tend to go for organic canned beans or bags of rice over conventional, but when it comes to produce local is my top priority.
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Nice piece. Local is definitely the way to go, if you can (sorry, Candice!). That way you can ask the farmers exactly what their growing practices are. Or even visit the farms! You’re not relying on a label which may or may not mean what you think it does. Funny that labeling is supposed to make things easier. In this case, we’ve seen an explosion of labels–”sustainably grown” “humanely raised” “free range” “organically grown” you name it. It’s so much easier to just walk up to a farmer and say, hey, tell me about your chickens, then trying to decipher the tags on a carton of eggs in the supermarket.
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“Organic means purer than a virgin in a chaste white dress made of snowflakes.” — Hilarious. Great description.
Sometimes, I’ll accidentally buy a random organic tomato, but I’m a poor recent college grad, so organic food isn’t my top priority at the moment.
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Great article, Nick! I generally try to buy organic in fruits & veggies that I eat the skin of.
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I live where, if I wanted to eat only what is grown within 200 miles of me I’d be eating beef, chicken, peas,potatoes, carrots and beets and wheat products. Hmm. Oh I could drink milk and have some jam. and eggs. and maybe some honey. Lettuce in the summer. Tomatoes are iffy. Herbs might be OK. No salt.no pepper. No lemons or oranges ever. Fruit in the summer and dry it for winter. So I would be turning back the clock quite a bit. There might be one or two things I missed, but I can easily look at what the pioneers ate and be close to right-on.
Fertilizer and pesticides. Be careful to use all the science available before deciding that all fertilizer if it doesn’t come from a plant or animal is going to be bad for you.
There are many natural products that will kill you–including salt in large quantities.
Fertilizers and pesticides have changed over the last 20 or even 10 years. There may be little or no residue in the plant you eat. Again check all the science.
Have you seen what a European Corn Borer will do to a corn field? Of course we could give up all corn and all the other things we use or eat that are corn based.
We don’t actually need to eat beef. Although I don’t think Michael Pollen would suggest to never eat meat again of any sort–just less. That’s OK since, if you look at our teeth they are not the teeth of meat eaters.But, I can’t grow soy beans so I can’t make tofu. So that form of protein is out.
Maybe I can grow lentils.It would be nice if we could dig up parking lots and highways and houses and get back all the agricultural land we had 100 or 50 years ago and plant it and grow enough fruits and vegetables to feed our country and feed it sustainably. Who will work the fields? What fuel will be used in processing? packaging? shipping? storing?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to just throw out all modern kinds of solutions. I don’t believe that all large companies plot to do bad things to us in food form. I don’t think they sit around thinking that they want to make the world a worse place.
I think we need to have dialogues with all sides of the issues and find a place of balance.We can believe all we want that everything about food 100 years ago was better.
I forgot – I could eat ice cream. But I want to see the farm and see what the cow is eating and find out what’s in the soil and air where she lives.
Last week I saw free range chickens eating road kill. I think I can live with vegetables.↵ -
Excellent article Nick. I’ve found it overwhelming to come back to the US after ‘organic’ had really gone mainstream, and like you said, ‘organic’ on the label of something may really only mean a higher price tag.
One of my goals for this year is to find local markets and start eating things seasonally, like I was able to do easily when overseas. The problem is that here in the US we are accustomed to so much choice, and gosh darn it if we want mangoes and strawberries in the winter we just buy them at the supermarket. The entire way our food system works is totally unsustainable (in my opinion, although I’m sure there is science behind that), and yet due to my student budget, I continue to support it. I miss being able to walk to the market and buy fresh, locally produced vegetables at reasonable prices like I was able to do abroad. I miss the excitement of seeing broccoli at the market for the first time every year. If we weren’t so used to having whatever we want, when we want and prepared for us, it would be much easier to change the system.
Oh and I loved this line: “At that price the pips should be semi-precious stones, and the grapes should come with a free servant trained in the ancient art of palm frond fanning.”
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Congrats on the article, I hope many people read it… There’s been too many wrong assumptions when it comes to organic eating / production. Thank you!
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I have always been cynical of all the health claims and thought that the benefits of organic, if any, don’t justify the high price. Well, I am doing at least a month, maybe more, of organic eating to see if I can tell a real difference. In other words, I am giving it a real life trial. Perhaps I would need more time to “detox” or clear my system out, but I figure the max should be two months, or eight weeks. I should at least FEEL something, some difference, by then.
I also dropped sodas and artificial sweeteners (said to be evil). I switched to an all-natural deodorant versus the evil antiperspirants with aluminum. If all this results in nothing, my original thoughts will have been vindicated. If not, and I experience some appreciable difference, I may consider the increase in price as worth it.
Has anyone done a major overhaul like this, one month to the next? If so, what was your experience? I am also suspicious of a placebo effect with this diet. By this, I mean that people want and expect a difference and thus feel one where it really doesn’t exist. Convince me otherwise, please.
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