Choosing Organic or Conventional Foods at the Grocery Store

You walk into a store to buy groceries. You need vegetables, milk, fruits and meat. Usually, this task will take 15 minutes maximum to from front door to exit. As you walk over to the meat section, there is a sign labeled "Organic Produce" so you decide to check it out…the food is all packaged and has big "certified organic" marks. This marks the beginning of a big dilemma. Is this food better than whatever else is available? Have you been eating 'bad and dangerous' stuff all your life and is it too late to change? Can you afford the change? Here is a little insight to the question that has faced many a consumer one time or another.

In simple terms, organic food is produced with minimal use of chemicals in the form of herbicides, pesticides and hormones. Its advocates encourage natural practices in farming by use of manure and non chemical methods to rid the farms of any weeds and pests. Advocacy groups state that there are significant benefits to organic farming such as

• Organic farming protects plants. Use of herbicides and pesticides kill flavonoids which play an important role in plant stress defense, such as in protection against damage caused by pathogen attack, in wounding or in excess of UV-light.

• Flavonoids are beneficial to the human body because they act as anti oxidants and anti allergic agents. Both these properties are important in reducing levels of cancer, allergies and heart disease.

• Genetically engineered animals are injected with antibiotics and hormones to shorten the time it takes to bring them to slaughter. This creates antibiotic resistant infectious organisms which can cause diseases.

• Organic farming facilitates a healthier workforce on the farms in that farm workers are protected from the harmful effects of chemicals

• Environmentally, conventional farming pollutes the whole ecosystem i.e. ground water, the soil, rain water. As a result the organisms in these may be killed or polluted to dangerous levels hence interfering with food chains so that there is over abundance of some organisms while others are completely eliminated.

• Chemical and antibiotic residues may be found on food tissues and that enters directly into the body

• Organic food contains almost six times as much salicylic acid as non-organic soups. Salicylic acid is responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin and has been shown to help prevent hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer.

So why is there such a big debate? Obviously conventional farming methods and non organic food have some advocates too. They say that whereas the benefits may not be abundant, the sheer weight of whatever there are completely outweighs those of organic farming. In their defense, they argue that the most important advantage is food security. Many years of farming on the same farmlands without use of chemicals to enhance production will not sustain the ever growing population of the world. The soils get overused and whereas previously land could be allowed to remain fallow to regain its nutrients, that is now luxury considering the ever increasing need for food. Genetic engineering and use of chemicals allow this problem to be addressed. That notwithstanding, they claim that food grown organically is not significantly different from conventional food. They also claim that fertilizer use seems to boost the levels of anti cancer compounds in food. Moreover due to the ease of conventional farming, there are decreased levels of soil erosion and a higher presence of beneficial insects.
And the food is available…cheaply.