And there are ways to save money on organics. CR suggests doing your homework. Compare prices at a number of stores. Buy foods when they are in season. And expand your shopping-venue choices: In addition to the upscale whole-food markets popping up across the nation, organic items are appearing with increasing frequency in your local groceries and chain markets - even at Wal-Mart and the discount Shoppers' Warehouse. Additionally, there are food co-ops and farmers' markets where you can find fresh, locally grown produce.
My personal suggestion: Check out Local Harvest, an invaluable resource that can help you "find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area. At these establishments, you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies." Local Harvest can also give you info on buying clubs, where organic foods can be bought at lower prices than those found for comparable items in brick-and-mortar stores.
Whichever way you go, you can still count on spending at least a little more for organic foods in most cases. After all, these products have to meet stricter standards, which makes them more labor- and management-intensive, according to the Organic Trade Association. In addition, organic farming generally is done on a smaller scale, producing smaller harvests and fewer livestock. It's basic economics: the smaller the supply, the higher the price. So if you're going to go organic, it makes sense to make sure the food actually is worth what you'll pay for it.
Take seafood, for instance. Consumer Reports cautions that any seafood labeled "organic" is meaningless, as the USDA has no standards for seafood. As ABC News medical editor Dr. David Katz puts it, "You can't really control what gets into fish... If there are chemicals in the ocean, they're going to be absorbed into that fish and there is no way to tell how much is in there. So labeling any sort of seafood as organic is a bit misleading." And paying more for "organic" seafood is just dumb.
Other labels are misleading too. If a product carries a label that says "natural" or "all natural," don't mistake it for being organic. CR warns that the claim of being "natural" cannot be verified. In addition, there is no USDA standard defining either categorization, save for meat and poultry. Equally meaningless are the animal-product labels "free-range" and "free-roaming." All they mean is that the animal in question had access to the outdoors for some undetermined period each day. "In other words," the report says, "if a coop door was open for just five minutes a day, regardless of whether the chickens went outside, the animals' meat and eggs could legally be labeled 'free-range.'"
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
Well UK figures show that, here anyway, organic milk is "higher levels of vitamin E, omega 3 essential fatty acids and antioxidants".
With any organic food there's also the added advantage that you are encouraging a more environmentally friendly form of farming, and hence making the world just a little healthier overall. (An indirect effect, but not insignificant.)
I'd agree with you about shampoos and similar being a con, although I reckon organic toothpaste isn't a bad idea.
2 - DJRadiohead
Outstanding article and thank you so much for writing it. I read the Consumer Report article but your additional links and information in here is great. The Wife to Whom I Am Married and I try hard to incorporate organic food and household products as much as our budget will allow. She and I will be looking this information over in more detail and discussing it.
3 - Natalie Davis
Ms. Bennett, indeed organic milk is demonstrably superior to nonorganic milk in the US and the UK - which is why it says above that it's worth spending extra for. Tastes better too, IMO.
Thanks, Mr. DJRadiohead. I'd wager you and The Wife to Whom You Are Married are healthier for choosing to go organic. If this essay can help you save money doing it or to make more informed choices, it has done its job.
4 - Mat Brewster
Very nice article. I will be forwarding this to the wife to whom DJRadiohead is not married. We're lucky in that there is a wide variety of organics in the area. We have a lovely farmers market and two local coops selling the goodies for not that bad a price.
Of course this means grocery shopping takes forever and includes at least 4 stores.
5 - JudiElise
Very informative article. It helped me keep up with what is going on in legislation to water down the stringent rules put in place. Personally, I pay the premium for organic foods because categorically, at least here in Maryland, the food taste better! Also, for health reasons, an organic lifestyle fits my family as we strive for better health, lower medical bills and less prescription medicine.
6 - Natalie Davis
I'm in Maryland too, and we try to go organic whenever possible for the same reasons. And yes, we find organic food tastes better. Being among those who are poor, we are limited as to what we can do re: premium-priced items, but through creativity, coops and CSA, we try to ensure that our diet is the best we can manage.
7 - Paul Roy
Great article. My wife and I have recently changed many of our food choices to organic. The stuff is SO damn expensive though. I didn't realize the amount of disparities with the "free-range", "free-roaming" lable. One of the main things we buy is organic eggs and milk. The things I found to be most satisfying are organic fruits, especially apples. A world of difference.
8 - Victor Plenty
Freedom from pesticide residues is only a tiny part of the reason for preferring organically grown foods. The trouble with chemical pesticides and fertilizers is only partly in their toxicity to humans and other living things (and make no mistake, many are far more toxic than their producers would have you believe). The deeper problem is that these substances cover up a huge number of deficiencies in the health of the soil. Many of them actually cause the deficiencies.
Without good healthy soil, it's simply impossible for plants to produce real food. Through selective breeding and chemical use, we now have many fruits and vegetables that look nutritious even when they are nearly worthless as a food source because they are grown in soils devoid of real nutrition.
Chemical fertilizers are also a vastly inefficient use of resources. Because they have to be water soluble to work at all, most of the materials applied to fields will run off with irrigation water or rainwater. This makes it necessary to apply the fertilizers at higher and higher levels, like an addictive drug, causing increasing water pollution problems for everyone downstream.
This is why organically grown ingredients are important even in products we don't eat, such as clothing, or in shampoos and other cosmetics.
Organic and biological control methods are the future of agriculture. The only question is how much additional damage we will allow the chemical companies to inflict on us before we kick them to the curb like the abusive spouse they've been all these years.
9 - suzanne thompson
I totally agree with everything organic, this includes skincare and shampoos and make-up and toothpaste. I buy all this from www.organics-online.com. The skincare range is 100% organic and is certified organic to food standards, nothing synthetic at all. The shampoos are as organic as you can get them, they are no sodium laurel sulphates or nasty chemicals in them.
10 - Merrill and John Clark
Generally a good article. However, you missed some important points. "Sustainable" has no more meaning than "natural" It defies definition and has no verification network for this reason. "Local" also is a pitfall. Fishmeal should not be allowed as organic feed or fertilizer for the same reason that fish cannot be labeled organic unless they come from a captive impounded water body within a long- time certified organic farm. Yet many organic farms use fish meal as feed or plant food or even as foliar spray. This is wrong and consumers should ask about this when buying organic plant or animal products. Look for direct marketing organic farms that are certified organic, read labels on processed organic foods, avoid products from processors who are members of the Organic Trade Association. Animal products cost at least 50 percent more to produce organically! Therefore price should not be your main criterion for selecting sources. John and Merrill Clark, Roseland Organic Farm, Cassopolis, Michigan, Roselandorganicfarms.com
11 - Natalie Davis
Wow, thanks for that info. Part of the purpose for this column is to enhance my own ongoing education - thanks for addding to what I've been learning on the subject and for giving important info to readers.
12 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Folks here are also going the organic route. Here it is whole different ballgame. The organic fruits and veggies here tend to be much more satisfying that the non-organic. From my experience, you need to eat less of them.
Here, with respect to meat, it is more a matter of whom you know. There is a rule in Judaism called "al tashHít" - essentially meaning that you don't waste. This rule applies for reasons that I do not understand to the living conditions of animals - particularly those raised for consumption, like chicken, turkey.
According to some authorities here, if these animals are confined in such a way as to prevent them having any pleasure in their lives - it doesn't matter how mercifully they were slaughtered or how many rabbis supervised the kashering process - they are not kosher.
So, the bottom line is that a truly kosher chicken had to have had a little pleasure in its stupid life.
Of course pushing that too publicly here knocks over lots of rice bowls...
13 - Natalie Davis
Organic tastes better and is more satisfying here too, IMO. And I often choose Kosher meats because they taste terrific and give me an assurance of wholesomeness (not to mention that somewhere, I have relations who are happy when I go Kosher). I have heard of "al tashHit," of course -- it reminds me of the hunting apothegm: "Only kill what you will eat." it's about responsible stewardship.
I love the concept that a chicken - the birds are reputed to be quite stupid - had some pleasure in its life too.
14 - black power
I HAVE A DREAm that one day there will be live african food to eat here
15 - Shannon W
This is a great article. It really helped me on my school report on why people should switch to organic products!
16 - NR Davis
Oh wow, that is great to hear. Thank you for sharing that.