Organic Food Information

Here is a section summarizing the organic food information up, from the lack of artificial pesticides to the positive effect on the environment. The hypes, myths and facts sorted out.

Organic Food Facts

• Are you certain that the food you’re buying is organic? Don’t confuse terms such as ‘free range‘ and ‘all natural‘ with organic for instance. Only the term ‘organic’ must be enforced by labeling standards.

• Make sure the organic food information you are reading or being told is credible - many farmers are simply attempting to capitalize on the rapidly expanding organic market to make money.

• The biggest drawback of organic food is generally the cost - to pay for the extra care, more ineffective production and inefficient methods (in relation to mass pesticides/hormone manipulation) means an increased price.

• New research is linking to (yet has not confirmed) the possibility of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides linking to cancer and birth defects. When consumed in large quantities, a pregnant mother would be passing those to her newborn.

• Recent media reports in Australia have found up to 13 different harmful pesticides on commercial supermarket fruit and vegetables - 2 of which exceed the legal limit.

• The benefits of organic food include much more vitamins and minerals, which take much longer to expire than commercial produce. Fibre and Vitamin C are particularly higher.

• Increased resistance to infection and disease from this extra organic nutrition.

• You will find you have increased energy since less of it is being used processing excess pesticide remenants.

• Producers of organic food need to meet very strict quality standards - yet more and more are bordering the line between commercial and organic. Be wary - find the most trusted organic labels and brands.

Organic Food Statistics

A recent case study in the U.S found 76% of people preferred the taste of an organic apple over a typically produced apple.Some official organic food information statistics from the Pesticide-Trust Research Group from 2005:

· 44% of fruits and veges have some sort of harmful pesticide residue.

· Even worse, 19/20 oranges in England had these residues present.

· 75% of apples tested had pest/herb/fungicides present.

· Think it’s only limited to fruits and veges? 76% of cereal-bars were found to contain pesticides remenants as well.

· 82% of fish showed minor pesticide residues - soil erosion runoff is increasingly damaging the oceans ecosystem.

Removing Pesticides:

Regardless of whether you buy commercial or organic, if you are worried about excess pesticide remenants on your fruits and veges, a number of methods you could utilize include:

• Eat a diverse, varied range of fruits and vegetables.
• Peel the skin off, or remove the outside layer of leafy foods.
• Residues often congregate in fat - be sure to cut or trim down any excess fat on meat.
• Clean the surface of the food under rushing water, even on fruits and veges with skins you can’t eat.

Main Features:

• Regardless of food quality and price, farming organically is ultimately better for the environment.
• Cultivation with organic methods means there is limited to no use of genetically modified manipulation or artificial chemicals on the crops.
• When selecting organic produce, buy from a credited and trusted “certified organic” label.
• It is simply too in-efficient to mass produce organic food without any sort of chemicals. If there is any sort of chemical reminents on the fruit or vegetable, it will be significantly lower in volume.
• Many people are skeptical of the benefits of organic food and claim it’s too expensive - a common saying among organic enthusiasts “If you don’t pay for it now, you’ll pay for it with your health later”.