Organic food. What’s up with that, am I right? I mean, you go to the grocery store, and there’s a bunch of reasonably priced fruits and vegetables, great, and then you see the organic stuff and it’s like, whoa. Like, is this tomato made of gold? Is that what it is? So you buy the tomato and you go home and eat it, excited to try this 24 karat tomato. And you know what? It tastes like a tomato. A better than average tomato, maybe, but you’re not even sure about that; it could be placebo because you paid more for it. You start to question all the fuss surrounding organic food. You wonder what the point is, but you never actually bother looking it up. So, just for you, here’s a quick explanation of what organic food is actually about.
In order to be legally deemed organic, there are certain requirements food needs to meet, which are more rigorous than just being safe to eat. That organic tomato you bought comes with a guarantee that it was grown with natural fertilizers and without the use of chemical pesticides or herbicides. It also wasn’t genetically modified in any way (although that part doesn’t really matter except to some people who are wrong). Meat sold as organic also has certain restrictions: these animals can’t be given hormones, such as the kinds used to increase growth or milk production; or antibiotics to treat disease. Additionally, organic meat must come from animals that had access to the outdoors.
And that’s all that organic means. Many who buy organic produce specifically stress the lack of herbicides as a factor in their choice to pay 10% - 50% as much for their groceries, but it’s important to note that, while organic foods certainly have less chemical pesticides than the regular kind, neither type has enough chemicals to be damaging to personal health. Plus, there’s no proof that organic food is any better for you nutritionally than the cheaper alternative.
So, personally, I’m going to stick with non-organic food. And if it turns out in ten years that every synthetic pesticide ever has deadly chemicals in it, well, I warned you. Kind of.
