Organic food

Organic food has both a popular meaning, and, in some countries, a legal definition. In everyday conversation, it usually refers to all "naturally produced" foods, or the product of organic farming. As a legal term, it means certified organic. The distinction is important, as the two definitions can represent quite different products.

Types of organic food

Organic food, like food in general, can be grouped into two categories, fresh and processed, based on production methods, availability and consumer perception.

Fresh food is seasonal and highly perishable. Fresh produce — vegetables and fruits — is the most available type of organic food, and closely associated with organic farming. It is often purchased directly from the growers, at farmers' markets, from on-farm stands, through specialty food stores, and through community-supported agriculture (CSA) projects.

Unprocessed animal products — organic meat, eggs, dairy — are less common. Prices are significantly higher than for conventional food, and availability is lower. They are still premium priced items.

To qualify as "organic", the standards for fresh food are similar to those of organic farming:

• produced without synthetic chemicals (eg: fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones)
• free of genetically modified organisms
• (often, but not necessarily) locally grown

Processed food accounts for most of the items in a supermarket. Little of it is organic, and organic prices are often high, however, organic processed products are now primarily purchased from supermarkets. The majority of processed organics comes from large food conglomerates, as producing and marketing products like frozen entress and other food additives

• processed without artificial methods, materials and conditions (eg: no chemical ripening, no organic farming practices, with or without certification, and this is more or less something a direct consumer can monitor.

As consumer demand for organic foods increases, high volume sales through mass outlets, typically supermarkets, is rapidly replacing the direct farmer connection. For supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable. Product labelling, like "certified organic", is relied on. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance.

With widespread distribution of organic food, the processed food category has also become domininant, confusing the issue further. Processed foods are more difficult to understand non-technically. Commercial preparation methods, food additives, packaging, and the like are outside the direct experience of most people (including organic farmers). Traditional and minimally processed products, like flour and rice; baked goods; and canned, frozen, and pickled fruits and vegetables, are easier for consumers to understand by comparison with home preparation methods, although home and mass-production techniques are quite different. For convenience foods, like frozen prepared dishes, cooked breakfast cereals, and margarine, ingredients and methods are quite a mystery. A "certified organic" label is usually the only way for consumers to trust that a processed product is "organic".

Organic food & preservatives

Unfortunately, there are no natural models for preserving food the way it's found in supermarkets.

Preserving food has always been a central agricultural challenge. Today, food with a long shelf life is the cornerstone of the food industry, providing most of the revenue and profits. In wealthier locales, an impressive array of technologies is used to make food "last" longer: home refrigerators and freezers at the consumer end, and industrial and chemical practices applied along the food production chain, from seed to field to fridge or table.

In general, organic standards cover in detail this entire process, specifying what is an "organic" ingredient or practice. However, since there is little natural reference for preparing, for example, a precooked, frozen entree, a "certified organic" label on such an item may be hard to understand. The main ingredients are one thing, the processes and additives used to assemble and store them are quite another.

This leads to a possibility that may seem startling and impossible to apply in developed nations: most of what's found in supermarkets today can never be called "organic". The idea is not new, and whole foods have long been part of the health food diet. However, should this idea become widespread, it poses a serious threat to today's agribusiness. Therefore, there is de facto agribusiness interest in controlling the definition of "organic food", by including production practices that would facilitate food preservation.

Is organic food "better"?

The bottom line consumer question is: "Is organic food significantly 'better' than regular supermarket food?" If not, less attention need be paid to understanding organic vs. conventional food. If so, consumers have to educate themselves, or risk being mislead. This area is a hotbed of controversy, and there are no conclusive answers.

The basic claims for the superiority of organic food are:

• tastier: Organic advocates claim organic food tastes better because of the way its produced, and because there is generally a greater variety to choose from.
• more nutritious: Food produced under organic conditions are somehow structurally different from chemically-raised and processed products. This pro-organic claim is beyond the scope of modern science to prove or disprove. The complex make-up of food, the effect of growing and processing methods, and the internal interaction between people and their nutrients are largely unknown. Measurements of some food components — protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals, and so on — only account for the most obvious factors that have been identified so far.
• non-toxic: Organic proponents point to potential problems with toxic residues from agricultural chemicals like pesticides. There is no argument that traces do exist, however, it is widely held that: (a) they are well in "safe" limits (as established by government regulations); (b) washing and other recommended preparation methods eliminate any risk.
• better for the environment: By this argument, every food purchase supports the system that delivers it: if the large-scale chemical production methods are damaging to the environment, then people who buy these products are directly contributing to the problem.

None of these claims are widely accepted as scientific fact. There are research reports, expert opinions, and anecdotal evidence both supporting and refuting them. Learning more about these debates leads to clearer understanding of organic food, and its potential value.

To the consumer looking for self-education, a basic awareness of recent food history provides a useful context. Chemical agriculture and mass production of supermarket food have only been big business for about 50 years. During that period, radical changes in the way food is produced have been justified by quoting scientific studies and conducting large-scale advertising and publicity campaigns. In recent years, the negative longer-term effects of many chemical agriculture practices have become undeniable, however, the lack of balanced food research is still overwhelming. It is unlikely that anything near definitive scientific conclusions will be drawn for years, possibly decades. In the meantime, consumers have to either trust the existing standards and claims, or come to their own common sense conclusions.

Radical organic

Faced with inconclusive research, conflicting marketing messages, and an overall avalanche of information, some food producers and consumers who want to act now are implementing radical approaches to defining and buying organic food.

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is one such approach, that cuts out all the middlemen by having consumers partner with local farmers. CSA members prepurchase "shares" in a season's harvest, and pick up their weekly portions from distribution sites. Thus, consumers provide direct financing for farms, participate in the risks and rewards of annual growing conditions, and participate with farmers in distribution networks.

Various alternative organic standards are also emerging. They generally bypass formal certification, and provide their own definition of organic food. One such, the Authentic Food standard, proposed by leading US organic farmer Eliot Coleman, includes criteria that are incompatible with current agribusiness:

• All foods are produced by the growers who sell them.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs and meat products are produced within a 50-mile radius of their place of their final sale.
• The seed and storage crops (grains, beans, nuts, potatoes, etc.) are produced within a 300-mile radius of their final sale.
• Only traditional processed foods such as cheese, wine, bread and lactofermented products may claim, "Made with Authentic ingredients."

Particularly in developed nations, it is difficult to imagine not having the majority of products found in today's supermarkets. On the other hand, most of those products didn't exist 100 years ago, and many of them are only a few decades old.

Facts & Statistics

While organics account for 1–2% of total food sales, the organic food market is growing rapidly worldwide, both in developed and developing nations.

• World organic food sales were US $23 billion in 2002.
• The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10-50% annually depending on the country.
• In the US:
  • "Organic products are now available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73 percent of conventional grocery stores, and account for approximately 1-2 percent of total food sales in the U.S." — Feb 2003
  • Two thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt are sold through conventional supermarkets.
• In Germany:
  • Baby food is almost exclusively organic, and over 30% of bread baked in Munich is organic.