What food is organic?

Answer 1

Organic food has been produced in accordance with the US Organic Food Productions Act 1990 and in Canada the Organic Products Regulations.

Organic production does not allow synthetic pesticides, genetically modified organisms (gmo) also called genetically modified food, nor does it allow irradiation.

Organic production also requires a standard of care of the land as set out in the Acts.

To be sold or labeled as organically produced it must have been done in accordance with the regulations as set out in the statutes. Misleading labeling in the US is subject to a $10,000 penalty.

What makes food organic?

In terms of arable farming or production, it begins with the soil in which the seeds or seedlings are sown. This soil has a rich and balanced ecosystem. In other words it is teeming with the natural, living organisms that provide the minerals and nutrients necessary to sustain and produce new, healthy life, e.g. crops.

This soil is in such good condition because the farmer has rotated his crops, rather than growing the same crop in the same place season after season. The variation in plant-life results in biodiversity - a wide range of organisms. This leads to the rich and balanced ecosystem mentioned above.

Further, using this system of organic farming means the soil is sustainable. It will go on producing life, unlike intensively farmed soil that becomes less fertile and is dependant on synthetic (some toxic) chemicals.

The soil (as well as the crops) has also been spared contamination by toxic, synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. These chemicals damage the health of living organisms; plants, animals and humans included. This is why governments have put limits on the residues permitted in conventionally produced foods. Soil farmed organically is virtually free of these poisons.

I say virtually because there are rare cases when an organic farmer has not been farming organically sufficiently long for his soil to have developed a full range of natural, organic defenses against disease.

An example would be the potato blight in the UK in 2006. Some Soil Association (SA, UK organic certifiers) member farmers came up against potato blight and were given

SA permission to use copper fungicide to fight it.

The majority of SA farmers overcame the blight with natural, organic methods. Organic crop defenses will soon be adequate in all circumstances and no synthetic chemicals will be used.

European Union, UK and USDA organic standards do allow certain non-toxic pesticides, but nowhere near as many as non-organic farmers are allowed. There we are talking of many hundreds at least. SA allows only four, and that's only in extreme cases.

Also, in terms of what makes food organic, no genetically modified materials are used. The use of GM materials in food production is another controversial issue. No research has been carried out to guarantee it is safe. The so-called 'test for safety', 'substantial equivalence' is ridiculously inconclusive, and scientific studies have shown that genetic manipulation/modification can disrupt metabolic systems.

In terms of meat and dairy, SA , for example, ensures that animals are treated well. They have plenty of space and are allowed to graze. Their living conditions are clean, spacious and stress-free.

Further, animals are not fed antibiotics and growth hormones. In short, they do not go through the cruelty and abuse of intensive farming methods. At the end they are humanely slaughtered.

What are the benefits?

A great deal of research has shown categorically that organically produced food is safer, and healthier. It is at the very least 95% free of dangerous chemicals and it is higher in nutrients.

Producing food organically also benefits the whole environment:

Land and water is not polluted as it is by non-organic agriculture. Plant life is not decimated as it is by non-organic agriculture. Animals (livestock and wildlife) are not given diseases and driven out of their natural habitats as they are by non-organic agriculture.

Organic soil is strong, healthy and fertile and the environment around it thrives. Food produced in such an environment is inevitably better for people.

How long has organic food been around?

For thousands of years before the Industrial revolution!

Answer 2

Organic food has had little to no pesticides or other chemicals used on it, meaning you will not be ingesting the harmful chemicals. Be careful with the label "organic" as sometimes it has not been reviewed by the FDA. Do a little research on which companies are truly organic.

Answer 3

make sure they label it certified organic.