Facts About Organic Food

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Facts About Organic Food
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• The term Organic is applied to food grown without
  harsh pesticides or certain types of pesticides
  (yes, it also means any carbon based life form,
  but thats not the definition were working with
  today), and in the United States its a huge
  business. There are a myriad of reasons why one
  might choose to eat Organic food they have a
  disease like cancer or an autoimmune disorder
  they have small children or they simply dont
  wish to put a bunch of synthetic chemicals into
  their bodies.

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• Some scoff at the Organic trend, saying that the
  amounts of pesticides that remain in our
  conventionally grown (non-organic) food arent a
  big deal, and if they were The Government would
  do something about it, while others claim its
  simply foolishness to pay more for say, a red
  pepper, because a farmer grows it differently.

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• Regardless of how you feel about Organic food and
  produce, one thing is for sure Americans, by and
  large, have become profoundly disconnected from
  where their food comes from, and what it takes to
  get it to the grocery store. So to shed a little
  light on at least the Organic portion of your
  shopping cart, here are 25 Surprising Facts About
  Organic Food That You Might Want To Know.

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Fact 1

• Contrary to popular belief, and contrary to what
  the name implies, pesticides are allowed in the
  growing of USDA Organic approved foods. There are
  over 40 pesticides on the allowable list that a
  farm can use and still get the USDA Organic
  stamp. So if not having pesticides is really
  important to you, know where your food comes from
  and what farms use pest control you agree with.

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Fact 2

• Most organic food travels over a thousand miles
  to get from the farm to your grocery store, and
  many organics still come from countries like
  Mexico and China, so if youre eating organic to
  help the earth, you may want to pay as much
  attention to where your food comes from.

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Fact 3

• Processed foods labeled as Organic say
  oatmeal or cookies can contain up to 5
  non-organic ingredients and still qualify to
  carry the USDA Organic label.

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Fact 4

• There arent any Federal regulations for
  sustainable or organic seafood because you cant
  really regulate the ocean contents. So unless
  its verified by a third party or farmed seafood,
  anything that says Organic as far as fish and
  shellfish are concerned is at best bending the
  truth. It should, however, be noted that there
  are third parties that rate seafood for
  sustainability, but again, theres not a US
  Government standard for this.

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Fact 5

• Bacteria content for organically grown and
  conventionally grown produce is about the same,
  according to researchers at Stanford. However,
  conventionally raised and produced animal
  products were about 33 more likely to contain
  antibiotic resistant microbes. Eek!

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Fact 6

• Its still really important to thoroughly wash
  organic produce. Bacteria is different from
  pesticides and can make you very sick. All
  produce has bacteria and dirt on it. Wash your
  food.

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Fact 7

• The USDA and NOP do not inspect companies or
  foods for certification. There are separate
  outside accreditation companies that do this.
  There are three of them, and two of them are for
  profit. Neither the USDA nor the NOP have any
  authority in other countries, either.
• So that organic garlic from China or peppers
  from Mexico? Theres no one beholden to USDA
  Organic standards inspecting the facilities its
  grown or processed in. While some countries, like
  France, have very strict guidelines. China only
  certifies 30 of its organic produce.

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Fact 8

• Organically grown and conventionally grown
  produce may be cross contaminated. Lets say
  were getting Organic tomatoes grown in Mexico,
  and conventionally grown tomatoes also come from
  Mexico. You dont know how they spray the
  conventional tomatoes, which could be in the same
  field or one field or farm over. If they crop
  dust from a plane, US sprayers, or have
  conventional pesticides in the ground water,
  those pesticides are going to be in the organic
  produce anyway. Theres no specific guidelines
  for how far apart organic conventional produce
  must be grown to maintain organic integrity.

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Fact 9

• Because crops grown without the harshest
  pesticides have lower yields, and organic produce
  sometimes has to travel even further than
  conventional, organic produce is sometimes up to
  50 more expensive than its conventional
  counterparts.

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Fact 10

• 5 pesticides currently allowed for use in
  conventionally grown produce in the United States
  are banned in other countries because they are
  deemed unsafe. For example, one such group of
  allowed pesticides is Neonicotinoids, which are
  the primary suspect for the bees dying because
  they act as nerve agents on bees. They are also
  the chemicals linked to kidney disease,
  Parkinsons, and birth defects in humans.

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Fact 11

• Non-organic or conventional farming isnt
  sustainable long term without adding more and
  more dangerous chemicals. Pests develop
  tolerances, and stronger pesticides must be used
  which also leads to soil being depleted, taking
  us further and further from organic, sustainable
  mass-growing. While there are short term gains,
  mostly quantity, making food cheaper, the long
  term effects of mass pesticide farming could be
  dire.

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Fact 12

• Just because something isnt labeled organic
  doesnt mean it isnt organic. There are
  companies who are committed to growing things
  naturally but either cant or dont wish to pay
  for USDA Organic certification, so theyll label
  their foods Natural or all natural. This
  label can be kind of ambiguous though, so again,
  do your research on a particular company or
  product.

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Fact 13

• Go Local! Your local farm or farmers co-op may
  not have a USDA Organic label, but most small
  farmers and co-ops are more than happy to talk to
  you about how they grow their produce and what,
  if any, pesticides they use. There are also
  co-ops where you help harvest, which actually
  allows you to be a part of the process of growing
  your own food. Knowing where your food comes from
  is vital to knowing whats in it.

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Fact 14

• Most organic meat is grass-fed for the majority
  of the time, meaning that generally cows are
  allowed to graze and roam about doing cow things,
  and eating grass (their natural diet) as opposed
  to being cooped up eating GMO soy or corn (which
  is not their natural diet, at all). This results
  in happier livestock, better meat for us, and
  better, sustainable practices for farming.

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Fact 15

• Eating organic (or local) usually means eating
  in-season. If youre trying to switch your family
  to a largely organic diet, stock up when things
  are in season. Organic strawberries are either
  impossible or really hard to find (and have to
  travel disturbingly far) in the fall, so buy them
  when theyre in season, and freeze or preserve
  them.
• Canning and preserving is how we ate through the
  winter just a few generations ago, but were so
  far removed from our food now that very few
  people even consider stocking up for the
  winter. Preserving your bounty is easier than
  ever, since we have freezers and ziplock bags our
  great great great great grandmothers didnt!

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Fact 16

• Soil is really important! For a Farm to be
  certified organic, no prohibited pesticides, GMO
  seeds or products, or sewage sludge (exactly what
  it sounds like) can be used on the land to grow
  organic crops for 3 years. Overall though,
  organic farming is far healthier for the soil in
  the long term.

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Fact 17

• Wines that are labeled or grown organically
  contain no added sulfates. So if youre someone
  who gets headaches from red wine or is sensitive
  to sulfates, try organic wine. And if youre
  worried about the labeling quagmire that is
  involved with foreign produce, wine is a little
  different. Most countries that we import wine
  from France, Italy, Argentina New Zealand
  all have very strict agencies for regulating the
  production of both wine and organic food.

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Fact 18

• GMOs (genetically modified organisms) can never
  be used in organic meat or produce production.
  Meaning that if you purchase organic meat or
  produce, the seeds are non-GMO, and the feed that
  the animals get is also non-GMO.

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Fact 19

• Round Up, one of the most common pesticides used
  and made by Monsanto, and specifically one of
  its main ingredients, Glyphosate, is showing
  stronger and stronger links to cancer, as well as
  antibiotic resistance. Glyphosphate has seen a
  large increase in use in the past decade. Two
  other ingredients in Round Up are becoming issues
  as well diazinon is being further researches for
  being possibly carcinogenic, and Malathion, which
  the World Health Organization found to cause
  prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. So if
  youre someone who mocks people who buy organic,
  remember what theyre trying to avoid putting in
  their bodies. These chemicals specifically are
  never used in organic farming, even though some
  pesticides are allowed.

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Fact 20

• If you want to know if produce is organic, look
  at the PLU (price look up) code on the product or
  sticker. If the first number is a 9, its
  organic. If its an 8, its genetically
  engineered (GMO).

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Fact 21

• Organic chickens (and their eggs) are ALWAYS cage
  free and are not given antibiotics or vaccines.
  Their diet includes insects and organic feed, and
  like other organic meat, is far more natural and
  better for the animal than the stuff most factory
  farmed animals are offered.

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Fact 22

• If you cant find or cant afford organic
  produce, dont worry, youre not alone. The
  Environmental Working Group (EWG) has made a list
  of the Clean Fifteen which are the fifteen
  conventionally grown produce items with the LEAST
  amount of pesticide residue, and the Dirty
  Dozen which are the dozen most conventionally
  grown produce with the MOST pesticides and
  pesticide residue.

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Fact 23

• Organic isnt just for eating crops cotton is a
  huge crop still being grown in 17 states in the
  US, and most clothing has at least some cotton in
  it. Buying organic clothing not only ensures that
  the wont wash off pesticides arent in your
  clothes, it helps support sustainable growth
  practices and keeps pesticides out of the ground
  water.

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Fact 24

• A company or farm wishing to be certified USDA
  Organic pays an accrediting company to certify
  (and annually re-certify) them via USDA
  guidelines. As mentioned briefly earlier, of the
  three companies that do the accreditation, only
  one is a non-profit. So while most companies are
  very much on the up and up and produce organic
  food because they believe in sustainability and
  healthy food, this is a situation that creates a
  huge conflict of interest. Further complications
  arise because often the process is outsourced
  more than once or twice. 

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Fact 25

• While Organic labeling is perhaps not as
  straightforward as many of us think, its still
  worth noting that pesticides CANNOT be washed off
  of conventional produce. Its within the plant,
  in its flesh. While makers of conventional
  pesticides claim theyre perfectly safe, theres
  so much money involved in the studies and Federal
  Regulations and lobbyists that its still
  advisable to eat local and/or organic if
  possible, particularly if youre pregnant or
  feeding children.
• Three separate studies in 2011 showed that women
  exposed to more of a certain type of pesticide
  had children with lower IQs, and more and more
  pesticides are being linked to hive collapse,
  human organ failure, and cancer.

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