Is Organic Healthy? Is It Worth the Premium Price?

Are We Sure Organic is Healthy?

In general, organic food is more expensive than our current, conventional food.

Organic takes more effort, more labor; it’s generally “more difficult” to achieve.

So, if you live in the US, does it surprise you that stores such as Walmart and Costco – which emphasize cost-cutting – offer large ranges of organic food?

How can they do that? Is it REALLY organic food?

And is organic healthy? Is it really better for you? I mean, is it worth paying a premium for?

The story of organic food in the US makes interesting reading!

Organic Food Is Big Business

Total organic sales topped $39 billion in 2014, and organic food now accounts for nearly 5 percent of all food sold in the United States – that’s pretty big for a relatively expensive item!

Just What Is Organic Food and Organic Farming?

A common definition of Organic Farming means using no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and also using the land sustainably (e.g. not over-farming) and working in harmony with nature.

That sounds good!

But what’s the reality?

In the early 1990’s the USDA took control of all organic farming in the United States, as well as control over the definition of the word organic.

So, there’s a raft of regulations that generally prohibit the use of synthetic pesticides, hormones, GMOs, sewage, irradiation, and additives in organic food.

Which is good. However,

1. Some synthetic pesticides are allowed (and produce can still be certified organic)
2. Crops can’t be grown on land that’s used chemical treatments less than 3 years ago – but again there are exceptions to this rule.
3. There’s no regulation about what grows in the next field, so synthetic treatments can contaminate organically-grown produce via wind transfer and run-off.
4. There are different qualities of organic manure used as natural fertilizer.  If the manure comes from factory-farmed animals fed ‘normal’ corn, there won’t be any minerals in the manure because there were no minerals in anything eaten by the cattle that produced the manure.  It’s not regulated.  And it’s difficult and time-consuming to produce organic matter compost (which is normally the best), so only the dedicated farmers do so.
5. There’s supposed to be an organic plan between the farmer and the certifying agent, but those agents aren’t always around, and they don’t always enforce the standards. There are way too few agents for the number of growers. Plus, the agents are paid by the growers themselves!

Wow!

And here’s what’s worse: it’s because so many of us wanted to buy safe, healthy food that “organic” suddenly became big business.

It became very attractive to large corporations.

Suddenly Costco and Walmart and large supermarket chains were offering Organic produce. Organic, in those sorts of quantities?  Not easy (or likely).

And the Small Companies?

Many of the genuinely organic, small companies were bought by the massive food corporations such as Heinz and PepsiCo, who were quick to spot a great business opportunity.

Take Horizon, an organic milk producer.  Their website glows with healthy cattle freely grazing on small farms.  Horizon is owned by Dean, a massive company.  In an exposé by the Cornucopia Institute, Horizon was shown to use factory farm techniques.

Does Organic Really Mean Genuinely Organic Food?

The concept of Organic has gradually been weakened.   Here are two glaring examples:

1. In October 2005 Congress passed an amendment which allowed producers to use the organic label, even if their products contained synthetic ingredients and processing aids.
2. Producers are allowed to use the Organic label even if their young cows (who would later be converted to organic methods) were given hormone treatments and fed genetically modified feed.

So, What Can You Do?

There are 3 things you can do to make sure you are buying genuinely organic healthy food.

1. Read the labels.  Yes, it’s Buyer Beware.  Know the difference between the 3 main Organic Labels:
   • 100% Organic – this should indicate a product made with only organic ingredients and verified as such.  It may not be genuinely 100% organic, but it’s a higher standard than the others.
   • Organic – 95% of the ingredients are organic.  (5% can be anything).
   • Made with Organic Ingredients – just 70% of the ingredients are organic, and the rest can be anything.
   • (And as I’m sure you know already, “natural” and “free range” are not regulated in the US so they can mean anything).
2. Think about where you’re shopping.   With their emphasis on cost-cutting, Walmart for example might not be the best place to find top-notch organic food.
3. Try to find a local organic grower at a farmers’ market and talk to them about how they grow their produce.  What do they use to fertilize their fields and how many tons of it do they use per acre per year? And do they actively re-mineralize their soil? (You’re really looking for a “super organic” farmer who uses close to 100 tons of organic matter/compost per acre per year in growing their crops).  The food from such a farmer will be more nutritious – and taste a whole lot better too! They may not wish to go through the organic certification process, but they may be genuinely organic.

Is Organic Healthy?

REFERENCES:

1. J. Baudry et al., Association of Frequency of Organic Food Consumption with Cancer Risk. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2018; 178(12):1597-1606. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.4357. Available at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2707948
2. Y-H Chiu et al., Association Between Pesticide Residue Intake from Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables and Pregnancy Outcomes Among Women Undergoing Infertility Treatment With Assistance Reproductive Technology. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2018. DOI: 10.1001/amainternmed.2017.5038. Available at jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2659557
3. C. Hyland et al., Organic Diet Intervention Significantly Reduces Urinary Pesticide Levels in U.S. Children and Adults. Environmental Research, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.01.024. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935119300246

Conclusion

While I’m certainly disappointed at what’s been happening to the term “organic”, I still believe that organic food, even if it’s not what many of us would expect from the term Organic as we know it, is still better than conventionally grown produce.  I would prefer zero pesticide residues, and I can’t have that with conventionally grown produce.  So even a ‘simple’ version of organic means less pesticides than conventional.  Plus, the more we encourage producers to use at least some organic methods, the better it will be for the soil, the environment and therefore us.

The EPA estimates that between 10,000 – 20,000 pesticide poisonings occur each year among agriculture workers in the USA alone.  This doesn’t happen on organic farms – mainly because fewer and less toxic pesticides are used.

So even if Organic isn’t as good as it should be, it’s still a long way better than conventional food.  Better for us eating it, better for the health of farm workers, and much better for the environment.

So, if you can, continue to buy organic produce. I am.

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Do you buy organic food? How do you feel about it? Let me know in the Comments below.

Warm regards,