Organic: it might not be what you think it is

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know I’m a big fan of eating good food. And by good, I mean good for you in addition to tasting good.

More and more people are embracing the idea of finding healthier choices these days, and one of the options they are turning to is organic foods. Interestingly, as more and more people shop for organicly grown products, there is a danger that they are becoming less, well, organic,than they once were.

The reason is that as demand goes up, big food companies become interested in getting a share of the market. And when big companies get involved, they invariably want to streamline things to make production more efficient and profitable. As a result, they have pushed the USDA in recent years to create legal definitions of what is and what is not organic.

This might sound like a good idea since everyone would have a clear understanding and the playing field would be level for all producers, big or small. But interestingly, as organic rules are put in place by the government, it creates a formal process for large company lobbyists to bend and shape the rules through amendments and exceptions.

A prime example of this happened three years ago when Anheuser-Busch had its Wild Hop Lager certified as organic. The fact was, however, that the hops that were used in the Wild Hop Lager had been grown using chemical fertilizers and pesticide sprays—certainly something that a consumer would not expect in an organic product! The reason they were able to claim that the beer was organic was that there was a rider attached to the 2006 agricultural appropriations bill that listed 38 specific items that could be included in any food product while still allowing it to be certified as legally organic. Those ingredients included things like food colorings, starches, sausage and hot-dog casings, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, gelatin, and of course, hops.

So just like that, hops were legally designated as an organic ingredient no matter how they were grown themselves. I have a feeling that consumers who bought Wild Hop Lager for its “healthier” properties would be unhappy to know it had pesticide and chemical fertilizers used in its production!

The challenge, then, is what to do when you want the healthiest food possible and you can’t trust the term “organic?” I think there are a couple of rules of thumb to keep in mind:

1. Be skeptical of “organic” products from large food companies. I don’t want to paint all big corporations with the same brush, but in general, large firms have a huge investment in the way they already do things, so it stands to reason that lobbying to change the rules to fit the way they grow things is cheaper than changing the way they produce the food they sell.
2. Shop local. If you meet the farmer who grows your food (or even better, tour the farm itself) , you can feel a lot better about how it was grown.

That’s it for now. If you have any questions about “organic” food you’ve come across, reach out to me and we’ll investigate it together. And as always, eat well!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification