What's So Great About Organic Food

Going Green: Concocting an Appetite for Organic Food

Amid increasing health and environmental threats, a “green revolution” is shaping today’s food industry. Despite its relatively high prices and low supply, the market for organic food has been steadily growing.

Organic Food Vs Ordinary Produce - The Supply Side

The organic food market has been gaining following over the last years.

• In India, the certified-organic market has grown 200 percent in the last two years.
• China, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are seeing their organic food markets grow.
• In the U.S., organic foods account for about 3 percent of its total market, and 1-7 percent in European countries.
• In terms of price, organic foods cost much more than ordinary food products. In China for instance, prices of organic foods are about 700 percent higher than conventional produce.

 Meanwhile, the market for ordinary produce continues to dominate the food industry due to high supplies and low prices.

• In the U.S., Americans can consume as much as 3,800 calories a day – well above the 2,350 calorie threshold for a healthy diet – given the amount food manufactured in the said country.

The Difference Between Organic Food Non-organic Produce

The relative presence of micronutrients such as copper, iron and manganese, as well as folic acid, determines the real difference between organic food and commercial produce.

• Organic produce was found to be 25 percent higher in phenolic acids and anti-oxidants, a meta-analysis conducted by U.S.-based nonprofit Organic Center states.  
• However, a 2009 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition claimed no difference between organic and ordinary foods in all but three of the vitamins and other food components examined. Ordinary food products even surpassed organic produce in one of the three vitamins and food components studied.

Fred Kirschenmann, a fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, explains that the real nutrient value in produce, whether organic or not, comes from the soil.

How Organic is Organic?

The organic food market prides itself of being all-natural and chemical free. But that doesn’t mean organic farmers completely do away with fertilizer and pesticides.

Organic farmers use biopesticides, which are derived from animals, plants or minerals toxic to certain species. These biopesticides may not be as harmful as commercial pesticides but are nonetheless toxic.

• In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency lists 195 registered biopesticides used in 780 commercial products.

Organic farmers also use organic fertilizer that primarily consists of manure and other materials such as peat, seaweed, saltpeter and compost. Organic fertilizer, however, tends to be pricey.

Why Go Organic

Most consumers take into account price, flavor and nutrition when deciding whether to switch to organic diets.

Food purists continue to make the case for switching to organic food from conventional produce based on the following claims: 

1. Unhealthy diets are causing spikes in obesity rates worldwide.

• Nearly 72 percent of Americans are obese, i.e. they are more than 20 percent above their ideal weight, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA.
• In Germany, obesity rate among adult males is more than 20 percent, similar to Britain’s and Finland’s.
• Every man, woman and child in the U.S. eats some 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of meat each year, while a European eats around 200 pounds.
• Obesity rate in the developing world is also increasing, with between 5 to 20 percent in China, and 9 percent of Indian men and 13 percent of Indian women.

2. Industrial-engineering techniques, which have adverse health and environmental impacts, are used to maintain abundant supplies, and subsequently low prices, of commercially-produced food.

• To increase corn yields in the U.S. by 23 percent from 1990 to 2009, as much as 10 million tons of chemical fertilizer were used each year that have polluted the Gulf of Mexico. In the European Union, farmers use 17 million tons of fertilizer each year, while Chinese farmers use more than 47 million tons of fertilizer annually.
• Antibiotics and growth hormones are also being used to raise beef in industrial conditions. These chemicals, which are deposited in the meat, are claimed to cause premature development and early onset of puberty, according to studies.

 3. Commercially-raised livestock are being subject to poor living conditions and inhumane treatment.

• Battery-hen cages will be phased out in all EU member countries by 2012.

 The Sustainability of Organic Food Markets

To feed the growing world population, food production must be scaled up. Moreover the organic food market might not be able to keep up.

Food production needs to be scaled up by 50-100 percent as the world population is projected to increase to 9 billion by 2050, according to James McWilliams, professor of environmental history at Texas State University.

Industrial farms outdo organic farms in this category, since the former produce twice as much food as the latter.

Organic and Non-Organic Markets Need to Co-exist

Producers and consumers in the organic and non-organic markets need to find ways to better co-exist and help to address polluting practices in the food industry. This will not only help to bring more fresh produce in the market but may also help to drive down prices when efficiencies of scale come into play.

Source:

Jeffrey Kluger, “What’s So Great About Organic Food?” Time Magazine, September 6, 2010, pp. 34-39.