The pedant in me has always thought that the term “organically grown food” is something of a misnomer because short of some rather bizarre substances (is Vegemite really made from a living thing?), all of the food we eat is actually created by some sort of organic processes, quite simply we are, like all animals intended to eat other living things that must by definition be ” organic”. Putting pedantry aside though I have long held the view that paying a premium for so called “organic” produce is a rather pointless and futile exercise. I have just never thought that it is ever worth paying a premium when there is no substantive difference in the quality of the produce. The recent research in the UK suggest that I have been right all along:
- (Ben Gurr/The times) The organic food industry is worth £2.1bn a year in the UK
The £120,000 year-long study by a team from the London School for Hygiene and Tropical health was headed by Dr Alan Dangour, a public health nutritionist. His team identified some differences between organic and conventionally produced food but concluded that they were not sufficiently important to make any difference to a person’s health or give nutritional benefit.
Dr Dangour said: “There is more phosphorous in organic food. Phosphorous is an important mineral but it is available in everything we eat and is not important for public health. Acidity is also higher in organic produce but acidity is about taste and sensory perception and makes no difference at all for health.
“A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced crops and livestock but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance.
“Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally-produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority.”
The one thing that the research did not look into is the question of flavour but that is such a subjective thing isn’t it? None the less I would love to see some serious double blind taste testing of the various types of produce to find out if there is a difference because my own experience is that if you tell people that something is “organic” they will often insist that it tastes better, even if you were lying about it being “organic”…
Whatever you think about organic vs conventionally farmed produce the most important thing that you can do to feed your family well is to cook your meals from the basic ingredients rather than eating ready-made from a packet or a can….
Cheers Comrades
Filed under: Domestic life, England, Living with Nature, Political Correctness, Scams, The Green religion | Tagged: Dr Alan Dangour, London School for Hygiene and Tropical health
I tend to agree with you Iain – organic is over hyped.
I have ‘Organic’ farmers in my area (not doing much farming since the fire) and they use many chemicals and tend to mass produce in the same way a commercial ‘Market Gardner’ would. The difference being that the substances they use are considered ‘Organic’. I’m not sure there is much between them in terms of the toxic nature of the chemicals used.
What I do notice though, is the huge difference between what we grow in our own (soon to be rebuilt) vegie garden and what we can get from other sources.
This is mainly because we use traditional seed. With the old seed varieties you get less yield but the colour and flavour is MUCH better and you can collect the seeds.
It seems that in breeding the commercial seeds we use today – to be pest resistant and high yield – we have lost a lot of the taste and possible the quality from our vegies.
There used to be a seed savers network with lots of rare varieties of veg that we just never see commercially and I often wnated to try different things but sadly we don’t have enough water, or full sun (too many trees around here) to have much of a garden so more power to your gardening efforts Craigy.
Iain mate I am with you all the way on this, Mrs Jacko has occasionally brought the organic stuff and I must say I either didnt notice any difference…. and in some cases it actually tasted worst. So long as it comes out of the ground, off a tree or is carved off some dead animal then that is “organic” enough for me.
I will say though that no fruit or veges taste better than the ones you grow yourself, not sure if there is any “basis” to this or if its just a case of feeling proud of what you have done but I always thought the tomatoes and herbs from the Jackson back yard shat all over the stuff from the market
Which reminds me have you eaten those sheep of yours yet Iain??
No Alan they are “breeding stock”
and lawn mowers ; since we have had the sheep the mower has been idle and anyone with some dirt will appreciate that not having to mow is a real joy.
This report completely ignores the overall health aspects of eating organic foods, and only focuses on the nutritional value of the foods. Where are the results for the long term health, life expectancy etc of the population from eating organic and non organic foods? This is not a definitive study and shouldn’t be touted as such.
It seems that the government is very happy to mislead people with a report like this, blatantly overlooking the fact that using chemicals for food production may have very negative implications on the general health of the people that eat such (non-organic food), and, of course, the environment. What a waste of time and taxpayers money.
Hi and welcome Joseph,
Personally I am all for lessening the use of chemicals and pesticides as much as you seem to be but as the person who does the shopping in my family I have never thought that it is worth paying a premium for “organic”. I also think that the scare factor about modern agriculture from the “organics” lobby is a hand that is rather over played.
I also think that the health of the population is affected far more by the reliance upon manufactured meals and overly processed food than the difference between “organic” and shall I say “normal” produce. In other words the health of the people would be improved by cooking more meals from scratch than by eating so called “organic” produce.
Of course, pre the agricultural revolution it *all* used to be organic…
I am all for reducing the use of DANGEROUS chemicals, I’m just not sure that the ones we use are that dangerous AND the organic farmers use chemicals anyway, something they aren’t really keen to promote. Check out what they can use:
Nicotine sulfate: A chemical derived from tobacco, nicotine sulfate is toxic to insects and warm-blooded animals. Make sure to wear gloves when applying it. It can be used to get rid of aphids, spider mites and thrips, but should not be used on roses.
Rotenone: Rotenone comes from plants in the Leguminoceae family. It is used to control leaf-eating caterpillars, as well as beetles and aphids. It is somewhat toxic to humans and extremely toxic to fish.
http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Permitted_Chemicals_List_for_Organic_Farming
Organics is a marketing ploy, that’s all.