Go Organic

May 16, 2007

What exactly are organic groceries?   We know that organic means healthier eating - and since America is one of the most obese and unhealthy nations in the world, that’s obviously a good thing to pursue - but what exactly does “organic” mean, and how on the good earth do you shop for it?
Organic products, according to federal standards, are outlined by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, and that act applies to any crop or livestock item marketed as “organic foods” in the U.S.  Many farmers already work organically - or very close to it - so it’s not a matter of not trusting the American farmer.  But there are bad apples in every bushel, and some farmers allow the use of sewage in their fertilizers, feed their animals questionable foodstuffs, genetically modify products without notifying consumers, or irradiate in order to sterilize. 
Organic farmers aren’t allowed to utilize any of these processes - keeping things much cleaner and free of additives - and the USDA conducts both unannounced spot checks and yearly inspections to make sure the rules are being followed.
 
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
There is a tricky side to all of this, though.  Keep a close eye on those labels - “100% Organic” means that the products contain only organic ingredients;  “Organic” means you’re getting 95% organic; and “Made With Organic Ingredients” means you’re down to 70%.  So read carefully.  
Organic is always a good choice - but local organic is an even better choice than shipped organic. Local organic, first of all, means you’re supporting your local farmers;  and, if you buy locally as well as organically, you’re also eliminating the middleman of transportation, which helps our environment. 
Surprisingly, buying organic also helps support the variety of the foods that we eat, according to Sandi McArthur, who is the education coordinator at Traverse City’s Oryana Natural Foods Market. 
She notes that in modern agriculture, most food crops are now grown in large, monocultural plots in order to maximize consistency, which means that most of us have probably grown up taking for granted that there are only a few varieties of each fruit or vegetable out there, when there are far more;  they just aren’t readily available.
“Food crops grown commercially tend to focus on just one variety of that food - one variety of apple, for example, or one variety of tomato,” McArthur explains, “so in the long run, we end up losing hundreds of varieties of foods, and we lose heirloom foods.  If these items were grown on smaller farms and in smaller batches, we’d have a lot more to choose from.”
 
LESS IS BEST
How else do you directly benefit from eating organically?  Well, helping the environment obviously helps all of us. But on a more one-on-one level, eating organic means you are putting far less hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals into your body. 
“Buying organically, first and foremost, keeps you away from poisons,” says Okee Westbrook of Petoskey’s Grain Train Natural Foods Cooperative, “and you are helping insure the safety of the farmers, too, as they are also affected by using all of these chemicals first-hand.” 
Sandi McArthur adds that organic foods purchasing also goes beyond the foods themselves.  “It’s an interwoven cycle,” she says, “The chemicals that go into the land also affect the water, the air, and all the other species around where those foods are being grown, so it affects health on all levels.”  
Eating organic generally means you are eating fresher foods, and you’ll often find the tastes are richer as they’re not hidden beneath genetic tweaks or bug sprays.
You’d think that washing fruits and vegetables gets rid of pesticides, but you might be surprised to know that many pesticides can go beneath the skin of the produce, so washing is only minimally helpful. 
And it still all starts in the farmer’s fields. “When you’re buying things grown without chemicals, it’s going to do two things,” McArthur says. “One, the food itself is not absorbing the chemicals.  And two, the soil is not being killed;  if these chemicals make the soil sterile, that means that foods grown in that soil are going to be lacking in minerals and other important components, and are then less nutritious.”
 
ORGANIC BANDWAGON
Fruits and vegetables are the easiest way to pursue organic foods, since farmer’s markets are a great place to shop. And even stores like Wal-Mart and Meijer’s have been trying to hop on the organic bandwagon (although many proponents of organic foods eschew Wal-Mart for other reasons).
Okee Westbrook also points out that a lot of local foods are organic;  you just have to talk to the farmers. 
“Many local farmers in our area do grow or raise their foods via organic practices,” Westbrook says. “They’re just not officially certified due to the expense of becoming certified.”  
There are plenty of other foods you can seek out organic versions of, and your body will be all the better for it.  The government is still working on organic regulations for fish, but, in the meantime, you can keep an eye on your purchases of beef, poultry, and pork by staying away from non-organic beef. 
Non-organic cows, if you will, are often fed - brace yourself - manure for dinner, and are given extra antibiotics to prevent the herds from getting sick - which the cows then excrete right into the ground.  Antibiotics are used on chickens and hogs as well, and are fed such questionable foods at times that a 2006 random test of supermarket chicken products showed that half of the samples tested positive for arsenic. 
 
TREATS TOO...
Beverages and snack products are products that you can find organically, too.  Both coffee and chocolate, which flourish in shady areas, are often pushed into sunny terrain in order to make for larger crops;  but that quantity gain is compromised in other ways due to the extra pesticide use that’s needed. 
“Commercial coffees are especially chem-ically-laden,” notes Westbrook.  In addition, heavy cutting of trees is often done to make more room for these crops.  Instead, you can opt to purchase coffee and chocolate as organic, shade-grown products that keep the chemicals out of your cappuccino and help the earth, too.  Even peanut butter and tortilla chips are in the mix - peanuts are one of the top 10 organically-polluted foods, and corn is one of the most genetically-modified foods in the U.S.  So keep an eye, again, on those labels when you’re buying products made with peanuts or corn.
The only catch with organic foods is that they are often more expensive - processed foods are what make up the majority of what you’ll find on the shelves in large supermarkets, and where you’ll find the bargains. 
So if you can’t go completely organic because you just can’t afford it, try starting, perhaps, with what’s called processed organic foods;  a decent halfway point between regular processed foods and completely organic offerings. Processed organic foods usually contain at least a percentage of organic ingredients and no artificial additives, chemical ripeners, or other materials. 
The Environmental Working Group has published a list of the 12 best and 12 worst foods regarding chemical additives, so if you’re on a budget, you might want to at least insure that you’re purchasing the most chemically-dangerous foods organically.
“Buy as much organic as you can afford,” suggests McArthur.  Westbrook agrees, “Organic foods are important to anyone looking to maintain a good quality of life overall.”
In the end, you have to weigh the cost for yourself.  A 2006 study found that one of the major exposures of humans to pesticide chemicals is in our diet, and most pesticides - no surprise here - are being found to have adverse effects on both the human body and on the environment.  Farmers who use herbicides and pesticides in their food production are not only assisting in the eventual decimation of the land, but are also making some plants toxic to such important creatures as honeybees.  It’s all a chain of events that can easily spiral out of control if we’re not careful with what we choose to eat. 
Organic foods, in general, cost between 10%-40% more than processed foods - so, sure, it’s a little pricey - but when it comes to the health of your body and the health of our planet, don’t you think it will be worth that small investment in the end?
 

What’s Safe?

Information on the pesticides in food from The Environmental Working Group.
 
THE DIRTY DOZEN: 
Highest in Pesticides

1. apples
2. bell peppers
3. celery
4. cherries
5. grapes
6. nectarines
7. peaches
8. pears
9. strawberries
10. spinach
11. red raspberries
12. potatoes
 
THE CLEANEST 12: 
Lowest in Pesticides

1. asparagus
2. avocado
3. bananas
4. broccoli
5. cauliflower
6. sweet corn
7. kiwi
8. mangoes
9. onions
10. papaya
11. pineapple
12. sweet peas