I just returned from a trip to Whole Paycheck Supermarket, aka Whole Foods, and upon reviewing my $100+ receipt for produce, dairy and meat, I began to wonder if my commitment to an organic lifestyle is worth it.
Eating healthy and well-balanced foods free of pesticides and poisons is something I am willing to pay a premium for, but not necessarily when the “moral mark-up” on such products can be 300% of the price of the “regular” — corporate-conglomerate and industry-farmed non-organic — food I have consumed relatively issue-free for the past 24 years.
Thus my interest in an article in the February issue of Consumer Reports Magazine that researches “When It Pays to Buy Organic.” The quick few-sentence summary:
There are plenty of legitimate and compelling reasons to eat organic food, including the better taste and higher quality of food; to greatly reduce your exposure to chemicals found in conventionally produced food; and because of the moral issues surrounding industrialized food production.
But don’t put too much stock, or hope, into the idea that organic chickens and cows, before being slaughtered for production, live happy, fulfilled lives. As the organic movement grows larger and more popular — “organic food and beverage sales are estimated to have topped $15 billion in 2004, up from $3.5 billion in 1997; sales are projected to double by 2009” — it is becoming industrialized. “Some ‘organic’ chickens spend their short lives confined in coops with screen windows.”
Plus, government food labels on products can be very misleading. (“Free-roaming”, “free-range”, “Natural”, and “All-Natural” are all misleading labels; products labeled “USDA Organic” can have up to 5% of its ingredients non-organic).
And “despite protests from more than 325,000 consumers and 250 organic-food companies,” Congress recently compromised the integrity of organic food labeling by “overturning a court ruling that barred the use of synthetic ingredients in ‘organic’ foods.”
So what to do? Click on the links below to read the Consumer Reports article and tables about organic food. The following list, however, of organic items that are worth and not worth buying, is the most handy collection of information I found in the article. (I cut it out and put it in my wallet so I know where I should spend my money. The “why?” behind the classification is found in the article.)
Buy these items organic as much as possible:
Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. Meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy. Baby food.
Buy these items organic if price is no object:
Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples, and sweet peas. Breads, oils, potato chips, pasta, cereals, and other packaged foods, such as canned or dried fruit and vegetables.
Don’t bother buying these items organic:
Seafood. Cosmetics.
Stay healthy!
Run With It!
J.R. Atwood
***
Consumer Reports, February 2006
“When It Pays To Buy Organic” (Overview): click here.
“When Buying Organic Pays (And Doesn’t)”: click here.
“Food Labels Can Be Misleading”: click here.
“Health Risks of Conventionally Produced Foods”: click here.
“Test Your Organic IQ”: Click here.
