Organic food

Well, is organic food always better? It is not within the remit of this web site to offer you advice of which foods to choose. We simply aim to present you with information in a clear and unbiased way so that you can make your own informed choices. So it is difficult for us to answer our own question outright.

However, it is our opinion that in almost every case organic food is better than or certainly no worse than non-organically produced food. If the prices for each type were identical then the answer would be an unequivocal “yes” to this question. Unfortunately that is not the case and we have to make economic choices too.

Looking at it in a slightly different way...

What if you were given the choice between a 2lb steak from an animal raised on a mix of antibiotics, hormones and processed animal feed or a 1lb steak from an animal raised on natural foods and treated with medicinal drugs only for its own well-being? Is quality more important than quantity?

And consider dairy products such as milk and eggs. These foodstuffs have been processed on our behalf by the animal, concentrating what it experiences from its own environment into the food we will consume. Doesn’t that make organic milk and free range eggs seem more appealing?

Large scale growers of fruit and vegetables choose varieties which suit their production methods. Often farmers are forced to produce the sweetest tasting strains to pander to our established preferences. But these are often not the best options for our health and nutrition.

Organic growers have the opportunity to give us a much wider range of varieties, giving them greater scope to provide the most nutritious foods as opposed to those with the most profitable yield ratios.

And finally, organic food tends to be transported shorter distances between producer and consumer. This may change in the future as the demand for organically grown meats and crops continues to rocket upwards. The increased market for this produce could also mean that pricing begins to align more closely to non-organic produce, making the choice much easier for everyone.

If you want to look into this topic further then you can follow this link to the web site of the Soil Association, the UK's "leading environmental charity promoting sustainable, organic farming and championing human health."