Organic Food: Is It Worth Paying More - ForumDaily
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Organic food: is it worth paying more

Most American stores along with regular food offer organic meats, fruits, and vegetables. They are significantly more expensive, but, as manufacturers say, much more useful for health. “Forum” decided to figure out whether organic products are much better or just another marketing gimmick.

In pursuit of "organic"

Yulia Kulakova, a thoughtful housewife and mother of two children of six years and eight months, prefers to buy organic products. She and her husband came to California seven years ago. At first, it was difficult for them to understand the labeling of products. However, over time, the new girlfriends bowed Julia to the idea of ​​organic nutrition.

“Before coming to America, of course, I tried to eat healthy, cook from good products, but in my homeland there are no “organic” and “inorganic” labels. Therefore, I simply chose fresh and bought products in trusted places. Here I try to feed my family meals made from organic products. I always buy only organic meat, chicken, eggs and milk, fruits and vegetables. And I try to buy at the farmers market. And ideally, the products should be local,” she says.

Yulia and her children go to the farm to pick seasonal berries - this is both a pleasant walk and beneficial for the whole family. “Never in a store have I seen such ripe, tasty, aromatic strawberries as the ones I picked with my own hands on the farm. If you collect it when it’s ripe, it simply won’t make it to the stores and will rot. In addition, children are interested in learning where the products on the shelves come from and how the berries grow. Of course, for me it's more of an entertainment. But my friends, for example, seriously raise chickens in their backyard and plant herbs and tomatoes. Everything turns out to be our own, organic,” says Yulia.

In addition, companies that deliver organic products directly from the farm are now in great demand. They are responsible for the freshness and quality of the products, and the buyer can, if desired, come to the areas where they grow fruits and vegetables.

What are organic products?

The certification system for organic products has been developed in the USA, European Union, Canada, Mexico, Japan and some other countries. In the US, this certification is handled by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The first standard for organic products appeared in the USA on October 21 2002.

Organic products are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Seeds of organic plants before sowing are not irradiated with radiation. At the same time, the main document in this area - the Organic Products Production Act - contains enough long list approved pesticides that are considered natural.

In order for vegetables or fruits to receive the proud title of organic, the soil under them must be prepared in a special way, they must be fertilized only with safe compounds, pests must not be destroyed with any kind of poison, and even taken to the market or store can only be carried in a special way - without mixing with ordinary ones. , “outbred”, fruits and vegetables.

But then again, the US Department of Agriculture assumes that a portion of pesticides may randomly fall into organic products. If this happened unintentionally and no more than 5% of the level of pesticides allowed in conventional products was detected, this is not considered a violation in the production of organic food. If the manufacturer of organic products used banned pesticides or did not do everything to avoid them from getting into their products, this is considered a gross violation of organic standards.

What is wrong with regular food

“In fact, the biggest crap we can eat with regular food is pesticides. After all, it is clear that products for the mass market without chemicals are difficult to grow. Well, or very expensive, ”says Yulia.

Bursting a lot of information, Julia found out that pesticides can accumulate in the human body, imperceptibly undermining the protective functions and provoking the development of chronic diseases, and even cancer.

Pesticides that are particularly high in foods affect children because of the immature system of excretion of residues of poisons from the body and low body weight. Scientific research proved that pesticides can damage the nervous system of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics has published in its official documents links to researchwho indicated a direct link between pesticides and some cases of childhood cancer.

Other study, A study at Berkeley's 2011 year showed that seven-year-olds whose mothers were constantly exposed to pesticides showed IQ test results seven points lower than those of mothers who ate clean food.

“Of course, no one needs such problems. When I found out that I was pregnant with my first child, I immediately switched to organic food. Moreover, I read that organic fruits and vegetables contain more vitamins and antioxidants, ”says Yulia.

Research The Washington University Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources has shown that organic vegetables, in fact, have an average of 11% more antioxidants on 40 than normal ones. And breast milk from mothers who are on an organic diet contains more fatty acids.

A valuable product

The transition of Yulia and her husband to organic nutrition significantly affected the family budget. “On average, we began to spend on food one and a half to two times more than before. But now I do not regret money. It is very important for me to feel that my family is getting the freshest, the best and the most beneficial, ”admits Yulia. Now organic food has become part of her family’s life.

Statistics The US Department of Agriculture testifies: people are buying more and more organic products every year. If in the 1990 year, sales of organic food in the United States amounted to about one billion dollars, in 2005 - about 13 billions, in 2014 - almost 35 billion dollars.

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The number of farmers' markets in the United States has also grown, from 1755 in 1994 to 8144 in 2013. Today, more than 20 thousand “healthy” food stores and three out of four “regular” food stores sell organic products.

Skepticism

Anna Bogolyubova, a doctor by education and a mother of four children by profession, moved to California from Israel six years ago. She does not buy organic products because of their high prices and because she does not see a fundamental difference between organic and inorganic vegetables and fruits. The experience of a doctor and a scientific researcher tells her that in an area where such money is spinning, everything cannot be simple.

“In my refrigerator, a product with the label“ organic ”can appear only in one case: eggs, for example, ran out of the house, and there were no ordinary eggs in the nearby store, only organic ones. With four children you will not run, so I take what they are. By the way, the lack of ordinary, inorganic, food, to be honest, has recently become a problem. And in large chain stores like Costco, sometimes you just feel like a hunted beast: pay and buy organic, inorganic counterparts are simply not on the shelf, ”she complains.

A member of the research group of conventional and organic products at Stanford University Denis Bravat to a certain extent confirms Anna's skepticism. In 2012, he stated: “There is not much difference between organic and regular food if you are an adult and make choices based solely on the health benefits.” According to the study, the risk of contamination with pesticide residues is much less in organic products than in ordinary ones, but in both cases it is not critically dangerous. At the same time, research has shown that the urine of children who ate organic food contains much less pesticides than children who consume regular foods. Adult tests, meanwhile, showed no significant difference.

To limit the ingestion of pesticides to the body to the maximum - this is the main goal of people buying organic products. However, Berkeley University biochemist Bruce Ames disappoints them. According to the results of his research he made an almost sensational statement: “99,99% of the pesticides found in American food are chemicals produced by the plant itself for self-defense. Moreover, natural and synthetic pesticides give equally positive results on cancer in animal tests. ” According to his findings, only 0.01% of pesticides contained in plants is added by irrigation and spraying.

It turns out that people who buy organic products focus on one hundredth of a percent of all pesticides entering the body.

A word of honor

One of the misconceptions about organic products is associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). People believe that the sign “organic” on a fruit or vegetable ensures that there is no GMO in it. But in fact, standards do not regulate this issue. Time after time the Department of Agriculture gives the same official answer: “Organic certification is based on the production process. This means that certification agents certify the ability to withstand the standards and practical application of organic production, which is regulated by the requirements of the Organic Production Act of 1990 of the Year and the requirements of the National Organic Program. ”

Translated into human language, this means that if all agricultural production processes are sustained, even the appearance of genetically modified organisms or pesticides not prohibited for use will not prevent the inspector from allowing such products to be labeled as “organic”.

In addition, the Department of Agriculture requires certification agents to check only 5% of organic farm processes annually, and the agents themselves choose which processes should be tested.

That is, certification agents approve a production plan, for example, radishes or cabbages, the farmer signs a paper in which he undertakes not to water them with prohibited pesticides, and that is all: radishes and cabbages have become organic. In theory.

By and large, organic farming and cattle breeding are based on trust in the farmer and on the buyer's belief in the very idea of ​​organic products. Further it remains only to hope that the farmer, consciously or through an oversight, does not give out inorganic products with low prime cost for premium organic products. Buyers, such as Julia or Anna, will not be able to detect a substitution in the store, even if they ask for an invoice for the goods.

And the fact that products under the label "organic" often contains pesticides, showed pilot study US Department of Agriculture, held in 2010-2011. Of the 571 sample of "organic" products, almost 43% contained residues of prohibited pesticides. However, only 3% were recognized as a violation of organic standards, since the level of pesticides in them exceeded the permissible norms. All other products, despite the presence of pesticides, have not lost their organic status.

The Department concluded that “some samples of organic products were either relabeled conventional products in violation of the law or the organic products were not adequately protected from prohibited pesticides.”

For such a violation, the manufacturer must pay fine in xnumx thousand dollars. Compared to the profits derived from organic products, this is practically nothing.

Based, inter alia, on the results of a study by the US Department of Agriculture, the biomedical and scientist of the Stanford Institute of Hoover Henry Miller in his article for "Forbes" "The colossal deception of organic agriculture" states: “Organic farming is an unscientific, monstrously paid marketing gimmick, and this applies to both the nature of regulation and deception. The old adage that you get what you pay for doesn't apply when applied to overpriced organic products." As one of the evidence, he cites the case when the famous retail chain “Whole Foods” issued as "organic" products made in China. And similar cases not singular.

So the choice - to believe or not to believe in the usefulness of organic products - traditionally remains with the buyer. Scientific studies offer essentially inconsistent estimates of their effects on humans. The only thing that is more or less clear is that organic products are much healthier for a child than for an adult, since his body cannot yet protect itself from the negative effects of pesticides. On the other hand, the question arises of how to obtain a guarantee that products labeled “organic” really are so. And this is also a problem that adherents of organic nutrition need to solve, because you can be 100% sure that a product is organic only in one case: if you grew it yourself in the garden.

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