The whole organic food movement has always struck me as a scam. Organic foods don’t taste any different to me. The key to great tasting veggies is to let them ripen on the plant and eat them as soon as their picked. And the alleged health benefits? I was always skeptical. And don’t even get me started about biodynamic farming bullshit. Now comes this from Britain:
Organic food ‘no benefit to health’
Parents who want their children to eat healthily should focus more on serving them extra fruit and vegetables and less on giving them expensive organic produce, according to one of the country’s leading nutrition experts.Lord Krebs, former head of the Food Standards Agency, said families were becoming ‘deeply confused’ by conflicting messages about healthy eating.
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The agency is reviewing all the evidence on nutritional differences between organic and non-organic food to see if it needs to alter its recommendations to consumers; at present, these are that there is no safety or health reason for switching to organic.
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According to Krebs, an eminent scientist and principal of Jesus College, Oxford, there is still no reliable, peer-reviewed evidence to show that there is any clear health benefit to eating this ‘green’ produce.
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A spokesperson for the agency said: ‘The weight of current scientific evidence does not support claims that organic food is more nutritious or safer than conventionally produced food. However, a number of new studies have recently emerged focusing on nutritional differences between organic and non-organic food.’
Thanks to tkingdoll at skepchick for the pointer.
Stumble it!
Not a very convincing argument. There’s nothing wrong with moderate use of pesticides (farmers are going to use the minimum required because they eat in to their profits), artificial fertilizers provide nutrients to the plants (chemicals are chemicals no matter the form and artificial fertilizers provide additional trace elements that organics lack), there’s a higher danger from animal waste then human (see the spinach problems from last year), and radiated food is safe and has a longer shelf life.
Conventional produce is grown for yield. This means that they use varieties that are going to ship better and create more. Nothing about flavor. Second, they pick it earlier so that it will have a longer shelf life. This does not help the flavor either. If I want to buy fruits or vegetables that taste better, I need to buy organic. The produce at my farmer’s market is organic. If they had conventional, I would buy it there, because being closer to the farm solves the problems.
A couple years ago, Greg started buying organic apples and did not tell me. I commented to him about how much better the apples tasted that year. We’ve been buying organic apples ever since.
To me, it is not about chemicals - it is all about flavor.
True in most cases. However, I’ve had non-organic veggies from the store that tasted better than organic, (specifically artichokes and strawberries) and my non-organically home-grown fruits and veggies are superior to both. In fact, they’re superior to the farmers market stuff I’ve bought because even they pick too soon.
I object to the health claims of organic over factory farmed. As the article states, families who can’t afford to, are buying organic in the mistaken belief that they are providing safer and more nutritious food to their kids when it just isn’t true. That’s just a scam.
I am an organic farmer following bio dynamic principles for the last 5 years. My consumers are direct. The food content in the inorganic produce is contaminated and the studies of the some research institutes confirmed this fact. In organic food it is quite assured that there are no harm ful substances either in the food content or on the surface of it. As to the taste, unless the food content is full in its entirety it would not taste as it should. I suggest a small home test. Cut your Carrot or Potato as a small slice. Hold it against light. In inorganic produce you will see large circles of fluid content whereas in organic produce the circles full of food content. That extra food content gives the answer for taste. Similarly the organic farming will not ensure taste alone, it ensures the eco system also. The so called statement givers have no practical idea, conviction etc. They simply rely on ready to use concepts ignoring the Mother Earth like a child craves for its milk from mother without bothering for the mother.
Bio dynamic farming is woo at its worst. You actually believe that by burying cow feces in a bull’s horn for a year that your crops will grow better? You really think that by planting under the certain phase of the moon means anything? Do you chant magical words too? What nonsense.
And what studies about contamination from where? If you don’t have specifics you don’t have an argument.
And the crop yields from biodynamic farming are far smaller than from factory farms, especially the longer you practice it because trace minerals needed by the plants are not replenished by your methods. If the world switched over to bio dynamic farming, millions of people would starve.
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