Why is starch inorganic?

Answer 1

This is a little complicated. The complications have to do more with the varying definitions of the word "organic" than with whether something is natural or not. To start with, starch is a 'natural' substance found in many fruits and vegetables. Starch is a form of food- or energy-storage adopted by plants. Starch is based upon the glucose molecule and is nearly identical to cellulose, the building blocks of all plants.

Each glucose molecule contains 6 carbon atoms. The chemical formula for starch is (C6H10O5)n, with the 'n' meaning the molecule repeats many times in a long thread-like structure; that is, many glucose molecules linked together like the links of a long chain.

In chemistry, anything containing carbon as part of its chemical structure is referred to as an "organic." Such organics include natural things like starch, cellulous, skin, hair, muscle, leaves, fruit, compost and so forth; but also includes man-made things like plastics, gasoline and pesticides. Therefore, by this definition starch is most assuredly an organic.

However, many naturalists have adopted a slightly different definition for the word "organic;" that being, anything containing carbon, which is also found in nature (meaning made by nature). By this definition, starch should also be classified as an organic, while things like plastics or pesticides are not thought of as "organic," per se'. So why do some people want to classify starch as an "inorganic?" This is where things get complicated, not by nature, but rather by man's varying and constantly changing definitions.

Some naturalists start to disagree regarding what the definition of "organic" should be. This is because man can alter natural things (like starch) slightly. And, if a natural thing is altered by man, some have decided that such alterations make natural things not natural any longer, or in other words "inorganic." In this case, the word 'natural' has become the key element of the definition of the word 'organic.' In science, "inorganic" means lacking carbon. However, altering the starch has not removed its carbon, but it has made the starch non-natural in some way. So, to some, that starch is no longer natural, or in other words, no longer organic.

Starch is easily modified or altered slightly by man, by both 'natural' and 'non-natural' means. This is a good thing because it makes starch even more useful to us by changing its properties slightly. In a way, we can engineer the starch to do what we want it to.

For example, natural starch is used to thicken things like gravy. By adding the starch to the gravy and then heating it, the starch swells, which increases the viscosity of, or thickens the gravy. However, you may buy something called "instant pudding" at the grocery. The instructions will tell you to add cold milk (or water for that matter) and mix. The pudding then eventually thickens without heating. This happens because the starch in the pudding mix is a modified form of starch, referred to as cold-water-swelling. Without the man-made modifications in this starch, we could not have "instant pudding." Pudding would have to be made the old fashion way, by cooking it.

However, since this cold-water-swelling starch was modified by man, naturalists and government agencies, such as the FDA, no longer recognize this starch as being "natural." Therefore, they do not classify it as being organic any longer.

Some have even gone so far as to say that the act of removing the starch from the plant, and isolating it so it can be used, is not a natural process. So, even though a starch may not be modified in any way, the fact that it was removed from the plant is enough to disqualify it as a "natural" or "organic" substance.