Organic food versus conventional food

When it comes to picking food for your family, you always want to buy the best and the healthiest. A question that often comes up when making this decision is if it’s worth it to pay that little bit extra for organic food. People most commonly refer to organic foods as food grown without pesticides. That is a true point but there’s a lot more to organic foods than that.

What is Organic food?

Organic food is said to be pesticide free, but you may be surprised to find that’s not true. Pesticides are everywhere in the air and environment, nothing can be proved to be one hundred percent free of chemicals. Organic farmers can use herbicides, only if they do not build up on the fruit or on the plant. Sulphur is sometimes used on apples.

If you buy meat and its labeled free-rang, you cannot be sure that it’s organic. The same goes for the “natural” label. The farmer might just not be using any insecticides on the meat states (Reganold (April 2001). "Sustainability of three apple production systems". Nature 410: 926-930). The food the animals are fed might not be certified organic food, it could be conventional. Organic foods do have to meet certain restrictions to get an official sticker saying “Certified organic food”.

Differences between Organic and Conventional food

Chemically

What are the effects of Chemicals in our food? How about everyday people, farmers, farms, and the environment? What is responsible for cancer and other diseases? How can we be sure that we are properly feeding a growing population?

Health Canada states that we get 80 to 95% of our total daily intake of dangerous chemicals from our daily food. Children are especially unprotected. The government is finding a lot of toxic contaminants in our food. These contaminants can lead to potential health effects.

Humans since the beginning of life have complex and developing brains and bodies, and these chemicals and toxans are extremely harmful and one of the greatest threats to humans states (Raffi Cavoukian, Feb 25, 2002, the Globe & Mail). Many pesticides are toxic pollutants that can and are spread by water, air and the food chain all over the world. Some can get in our blood and in our skin till the point where a mother’s breast milk will contain toxic compounds. At least 40 pesticides that are still used can change the hormones of the brain and the immune system. Children compared to adults eat “three times more food per body weight” ( Raffi Cavoukian) in proportion taking in more pesticides. Children eat a lot of fruit and juice which are made from highly sprayed

crops. However this is in conventional food there is no proof that organic food is better than conventional food yet. It is too soon to tell because experiments are still being done, there is no answer yet states Dr. David Suzuki, June 2002.

Physically

Will do on weekend experiment needed to be filmed

Myths?

There are myths about organic food out and we today are going o explain some of them to you. First, Most Americans believe that organic food is healthier than conventional food, but an article written by John Miller of National review states, the reverse.

“Organic food may be fresh, but they are also fresh from the manure

fields” he said, and that organic food is just something to scare consumers into buying the high priced organic food. The discovery of mad cow disease in the United States made a perfect opportunity for organic consultants to promote wrong facts about conventional food. “Conventional foods are excessively risky” states Ronnie Cummins director of the Organic Consumers Association, that organic beef provides safety from mad cow disease.

Another myth is that the money is going to individual farmers and not big multi billion dollar companies. Well this is not true these companies have bought over 70% of the organic food market, California alone produces 600 million dollars in organic food most coming from only 5 farms. Why is it Better to buy Organic food? Besides the price difference there are a lot more differences between organically grown produce and conventionally grown produce that can make the difference. A big myth that is people think that once there buying organic foods, their buying more nutritious food but this was never successfully proven (Mayo clinic,2006). Whether you’re buying an organic food product or a conventional grown product, it is all food. The difference lies in how that food is produced, processed and handled (Mayo clinic,2006). People tend to think that organic food spoils faster and that is because it is not coated with waxes and pesticides to avoid spoiling. Another reason that people might buy organic food is for the environment. Some people who are careful on the environment may buy organic foods because they are produced by using methods to conserve water and soil (Mayo clinic,2006). But all the benefits of organic food are good for you, however they do come at a price. Organic food cost more than conventionally grown food products (Mayo clinic,2006). These higher prices are due to more expensive farming practices and tighter government regulations (Mayo clinic,2006).Another thing that can contribute to price difference is the fact that the farmers don’t use herbicides to kill the weeds around their crops so they would have to get rid of these weeds one by one by hand (Mayo clinic,2006). This will cause an increase in the price. So when you’re paying for organic

foods you are paying for the luxury of knowing that the food going into your families mouth is free from waxes and pesticides just to make it better.

Advantages of Organic Food When you see the food on your plate you probably wondered were it came from and how was it produced. Sometimes we hear about some gross cases that involve people not taking care of their farms and as a result people getting sick. Well why should you worry about that? If you decide to go organic and buy it for your family, you know what is inside and how and were it came from. And even if sometimes you are skeptical about this, you have the certification patch to ensure that it is a genuine organic product (Louise Virginia, 2008).

Disvantages of Conventionally Grown Food The biggest disadvantages of conventionally grown foods are the health issues that they cause. Not all the things that they may be linked to will always happen but some of the potential health issues are; -Cancer -Obesity -Alzheimer’s -Some birth defects (Louise Virginia, 2008)

This is not a pleasant list but unfortunately, it shows the documented potential outcomes that pesticides on foods may cause. Now I’m not saying that once you eat an ordinary apple you will get cancer or one of the other diseases, however it is not a good idea to be exposed to pesticides too often in the food you eat. This is especially the case if you are feeding a small child. According to Dr. Greene, 2001, children’s organs still grow at a young age and they want to keep them forever. Due to their small size, fast-growing metabolisms and less varied diets, children are more vulnerable to health and developmental damage so why should this risk be increased because they are consuming foods that are full of pesticides? (Greene, Allan, 2001) Disadvantages of Organic Food: Although organic food is praised as a great alternative in order to reduce pesticides consumed by the body and to help save the planet, they do have downfalls; First of all, organic food is more expensive to buy (Greeno,2006) in large part, because of the growing demand for it. This is one of the issues that can turn food buyers off, particularly now when the economy has weakened and the prices of grains and other transported foods has increased due to the greater cost of shipping resulting from rising fuel prices (Gazette, April 14, 2008, p. B1). As a result, people may be happy to be able to buy food for their family and they are not going to be fussy about what extra pesticides are added (Greeno,2006) especially the population of poorer countries or poorer families in rich countries like Canada. In fact, due to the 40% price increase in organic food, it becomes harder to purchase it for the common working man but if you are ready to pay more, it is definitely worth the extra buck or two (Greeno,2006). Even if a family has the means and willingness to pay the extra price for organic food, they may hesitate in that

they may not be able to buy locally grown organic foods and therefore risk contributing to damaging the environment because of the transportation of the produce. For example, almost 70 percent of organic foods sold in the United Kingdom needs to be imported (Greeno, 2006). Finally, there are critics of organic farming who claim that it is a big money making business which is aimed at taking advantage of a current rich, western world marketing hype but is a farming technique which does not produce enough food for the growing population of the whole world, poor and rich.

Issues

There are several issues about organic food that have been brought up lately and in the past. Some of which are the cost, supply, the distribution and the evidence. The costs of organic food are always double or triple the price of conventional food. Says Evangelos Mylonakis, B.Sc., D.I.A., M.BA. This causes several problems for families who want but cannot afford to have organic produce in their lives. Another reason is supply, if more and more people decide to go about buying organic food, there will not be enough supply to accommodate the demand making prices go even higher. Distribution is another issue, organic food is select and the consumer will not go out and get an organic apple if they go out to buy an apple, they might get a pear or another fruit but if the consumer doesn’t go thinking they are going to buy an organic apple it’s not going to be purchased. Eating organic food all the time is a full time commitment and suck up a lot of peoples time, because we live in a society that is surrounded and used to eating out and

eating fast-food and non organic produce. You would have to drive the people around you crazy, take this as an example someone offers you glass of orange juice and you can’t have it because it isn’t organic. Another example is business men who travel are going to have a lot of difficulty looking for organic food on an airplane or in the airport. Some people could argue that they could pack a lunch, but what if you’re gone for a week, where are you going to find organic food in for example Saskatoon. There has been no scientific evidence that organic food is better than conventional food but consumers re still convinced it is healthier.

Certification

Many food companies and farmers like to slap on that “certified organic” label to make it more enticing to buy. But for something to go threw a certification, it must go under strict government tests so that it can legally have the certified organic sticker. Here in Canada, organic food must go under tests by the C.G.S.B (Canadian General Standard board) (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). For food to qualify as organic food it must be free of commercial fertilizers for three years, free of herbicides for three years and the seed cannot be from genetically modified seed. (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). Also, the area were organic food is grown must have a buffer zone between all organically grown products and non-organically grown ones. (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). This certification doesn’t come very easily, Organic farmers must pay several hundread dollars yearly for their certification (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). Most of this money goes to the inspectors to ensure a quality job is done and the standards are met (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). An inspector can

come regularly to the organic farms; they could be there on a days notice or within a few hours. To ensure that the certification is kept up to par, farmers must keep a detailed log book as records of all the food that was produced organically on their farm (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). All these standards were put into play in June 1999 (Bahadur, Wells, 2000). It is important to make a standard for this type of produce due to the fact that it is the fastest growing business in the food industry (???)

Besides the price difference there are a lot more differences between organically grown produce and conventionally grown produce. A big myth that is people think that once there buying organic foods, their buying more nutritious food but this was never successfully proven (Mayo clinic,2006). Whether your buying an organic food product or a conventional grown product, it is all food. The difference lies in how that food is produced, processed and handled (Mayo clinic,2006). People tend to think that organic food spoils faster and that is because it is not coated with waxes and pesticides to avoid spoiling. Another reason that people might buy organic food is for the environment. Some people who are careful on the environment may buy organic foods because they are produced by using methods to conserve water and soil (Mayo clinic,2006). But all the benefits of organic food are good for you, however they do come at a price. Organic food cost more than conventionally grown food products (Mayo clinic,2006). These higher prices are due to more expensive farming practices and tighter government regulations (Mayo clinic,2006).Another thing that can contribute to price difference is the fact that the farmers don’t use herbicides to kill the weeds around their crops so they would have to get rid of these weeds one by one by hand (Mayo clinic,2006). This will cause an

increase in the price. The biggest disadvantages of conventionally grown foods are the health issues that they cause.