Buying Organic

A couple of people have queried me about what I learned from "A Field Guide to Buying Organic," so I thought I'd share my impressions.

The one thing they stress in this book is that the answer to the question "Is organic worth it?" is "It depends on you." The authors talk about three main motivators for people to buy organic - their own health, the health of the environment, and a set of beliefs or ideals that take into account the health of society as a whole. You get to decide which of these motivators applies to you and then base your buying decisions on the facts. For example, with the grains we buy, there is very little pesticide residue difference between conventional and organic flours after processing. However, conventional grain farming is a huge contaminant of ground water. So while the health effects might be negligible, you might choose to buy organic because of the large environmental impact.

Surprises for me... Dairy was a big surprise for me. There's very little pesticide residue in conventional low-fat milk and milk-products. All the gunk we want to avoid seems to settle in the fat. In whole milk, 82 of the 89 residues found were metabolites of DDT. DDT has been banned in this country for years and years, but it still exists in the environment and organic dairy products can't avoid it either. Conventional dairies can't sell milk tainted with antibiotics even if they use them on the cows. Hormone use is practically limited to larger dairies. What really matters with dairy products is the size of the dairy. So if you live in Wisconsin with 19,000 smaller dairies, your milk is probably pretty darn good. If you live in California with only 2,500 huge dairies, you'll probably want to drink organic. Not necessary because it's organic, but because it will typically come from a smaller dairy. I won't describe the problems that occur with large dairies - if you're interested, read the book. So I'll be buying conventional products low-fat. If I need higher fat things like butter, I'll buy organic or what they called "artisan" - as in artisan cheeses. Another good point they make is that the smaller, niche companies, are really trying to get a good product - think the difference between a gourmet cheese at Wegmans and Kraft cheddar - the niche companies are going to feed their cows to get the best tasting cheese.

Another surprise - just because it's organic doesn't mean it doesn't have stuff sprayed all over it. Organic has to be protected from pests, shipped, stored, preserved just like conventional food stuffs. In many instances, the same spray or method they use for conventional is allowed in/on the organic counterpart. No one pays for wormy apples.

Things that don't have pesticide residue over their organic counterparts that surprised me - grain products, coffee, teas. However, the book made a great case for buying organic or free trade versions of these products due to the environmental and societal impacts of conventional farming methods.

Hmmm...what else. Processed foods. Just look at the label and use common sense. If the organic version lists oats as the first ingredient in oatmeal cookies and the conventional one lists it as ingredient #6 after things you can't pronounce, which do you think is better for you? And it's not because it's organic. ;-)

Beef, chicken, pork - all I can say is YUCK. If I didn't enjoy the taste of meat so much, I'd swear off the stuff. Conventional/organic - doesn't matter - Yuck, yuck, and yuck. My grandfather grew up on a farm with chickens - he REFUSED to eat chicken the entire time I knew him. I totally understand why now. I'm going to look for meat from small farms - like my sister-in-law's side yard or a place here in Lima called Seven Bridges.

Produce - some things have lots of residue, others don't. I drew my personal limit at no more than 20 detected and made my list. But...here's a big but...they did say the health benefits of eating conventional produce with pesticide residue far outweigh giving up the produce because you can't afford or find organic.

Buy stuff in glass when possible - our plastics leech, although the FDA says it's at "safe" levels. Yeah, right.

There's lots more in the book - these are just my highlights. The book's only $14, although the 2007 reprint of it is only $7. Not sure why. Enjoy!