Is "organic" all a bunch of bs?

butter scotch?

I don't know anything, but I think "organic" is just a buzz-word now that doesn't have any tangible connection to anything. Like "green." I know as far as actual farms go, an organic certification is a rigorous process that takes years of testing, but on the market side and product labelling it is probably wide open. Especially if walmart is doing it.

Only USDA certified organic is organic, meaning it has no hormones, antibiotics, or preservatives.

You can trade mark your food to be called "all-natural ______" but don't consider it organic unless usda certified.

Organic foods also are not sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals.

To answer the OP's question, yes organic is better for your health especially as it relates to food items made from produce with thin skins (e.g., berries, grapes) and meats.

pasty saltine wrote:

Organic foods also are not sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals.

To answer the OP's question, yes organic is better for your health especially as it relates to food items made from produce with thin skins (e.g., berries, grapes) and meats.

No fertilizers of any kind? Wow, that's stringent. I guess that they have to rotate crops very frequently.

Can't be labeled organic in the US without USDA certification.Walmart was actually on it relatively early. Say what you want about the company, but there is a savvy group making decisions for them.

brown wrote:

I don't know anything, but I think "organic" is just a buzz-word now that doesn't have any tangible connection to anything. Like "green." I know as far as actual farms go, an organic certification is a rigorous process that takes years of testing, but on the market side and product labelling it is probably wide open. Especially if walmart is doing it.

It has been discovered that Egyptians, Romans and Babylonians used fertilizers. I have to assume that the first use of fertilizers was probably before then... It seems that we are going far in time here. Why?

I think I saw a video on YouTube about that and gluten intolerance...

Vytgvvgtgtvthv wrote:

No fertilizers of any kind? Wow, that's stringent. I guess that they have to rotate crops very frequently.

Fertiliser doesn't have to mean chemical. I worked for a good while on a certified-organic zucchini farm. We fertilised all the time. It was this hideous fish slurry stuff that stank like hell. There is no such thing as commercial farming without pest control and fertilisation. Bugs and blight would destroy you every time if you just threw seeds in the ground and walked away.

On the organic side it is just a matter of what kinds of chemicals you are putting in your dirt and on your plants. Where I worked in Texas it was a 5 year process to obtain organic certification. Apparently a single cigaret butt in the field could lose you your certification. The old man I worked for would go ape shit if he saw anyone smoking out in the plants.

Vytgvvgtgtvthv wrote:

pasty saltine wrote:

Organic foods also are not sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals.

To answer the OP's question, yes organic is better for your health especially as it relates to food items made from produce with thin skins (e.g., berries, grapes) and meats.

No fertilizers of any kind? Wow, that's stringent. I guess that they have to rotate crops very frequently.

Well, actually manure as a fertilizer is acceptable and used. That is why you still have to wash your veggies even if they are organic because they were grown in sh!t and still have tons of bacteria on them.

As noted above, 'organic' certification is hard to come by with very stringent guidelines. And I think the organic message sometimes gets distorted in that these products do not necessarily contain more vitamins, minerals,….it's that they contain way less, or no toxins, poisons, chemical pesticides, genetic mutation, antibiotics, growth hormones, chemical herbicides, ….

Actually, organic certification goes back to the producer. It is a more expensive, less industrial chemically intensive way of producing food that, generally produces less pretty food and lower yields.

Getting a farm certified takes years and pretty expensive soils testing. That's why at farmer's markets you may see 'transitional' produce. That means they are part way through organic certification.

Is it healthier food? Arguable. Is it less complicated to produce? Yes. For sure. The farmer also isn't trapped in patented food production systems.

I have French friends who will only buy organic. They work for a major oil company and are not left wing hippies. They will only buy organic because most of the non-organic fruit and veggies have no flavor. That is because conventional agriculture is all about blasting fruits and veggies with tons of nitrogen so that they grow as fast as possible and as big as possible. They also tend to use variants that will ripen (visually) off the plant so that they can be harvested earlier and stored longer.

Organics do not use nitrogen or other high impact fertilizers. They will usually take longer to grow and will mature on the plant (although more industrialized organics are not as good about this). They generally taste much better or actually taste like something.

The other issue is ecology. The massive amount of fertilizers used by conventional agriculture results in a tremendous amount of runoff that eventually makes its way into rivers, lakes and the ocean. The giant dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that appears every summer is the result of too much fertilizer coming into the ocean. It causes algae to grow out of control, which deprives the ocean of oxygen.

food critic wrote:

Are there really noticeable differences? Is it mostly marketing?

Every organic market I've been to seems to have some healthier stuff, but a lot of stuff is just similar to what you'd get at a supermarket but higher price with fancier labels. The whole thing just seems overblown--like they just capitalize on this GMO scare... I've noticed Walmart is stocking a lot of organic products nowadays anyway

You are legally, officially an idiot. How old are you? Such stupidity should invalidate any high school and university degrees you might have. And make you Eligible to be barred from having a family, a professional license of any sort, posting on forums...

That or you are being paid my Monsanto to spread purest Bullsh1t on forum boards. You notice how the moderators delete posts criticizing Monsanto? Monsanto and the mega corporate interests (beef cattle board, Hormel and other meat and junk food companies, etc) spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying out government, academics and for marketing campaigns that are the vilest purest lies and propaganda.

The posters in this thread are so irresponsibly uninformed, factually retarded and in bad faith and violation of pragmatically (branch of linguistics),

That they can't possibly be real college educated citizens and RUNNERS. What a disgrace.

Think about environmental integrity. Think about carcinogens. Think about scientific responsibility and not reckless science. Think about pure government and law. Think about responsible free enterprise. Think about our history of law, literature/philosophy and citizen advocacy and movements to protect every one of those things. Think about freedom of the press. Americans, CHRISTIANS, ... !runners!

Woe, in the day of judgment it were more tolerable for the land of Sodom...

fyi- Organic berries actually do taste much better than their non-organic counterparts. I don't know why- perhaps it is because they are older when picked and hence more ripe. Maybe non-organic berries can be picked earlier because they grow faster with assistance from chemicals and other means?

closebutnotquite wrote:

Vytgvvgtgtvthv wrote:

No fertilizers of any kind? Wow, that's stringent. I guess that they have to rotate crops very frequently.

Well, actually manure as a fertilizer is acceptable and used. That is why you still have to wash your veggies even if they are organic because they were grown in sh!t and still have tons of bacteria on them.

They are also grown in dirt which has tons of bacteria in it. Organic doesn't mean clean. Always wash produce.

(Non-organic price) x 1.4 = Organic price

It's just a marketer's way of screwing you for 40% more for the same thing.

photofinish wrote:

(Non-organic price) x 1.4 = Organic price

It's just a marketer's way of screwing you for 40% more for the same thing.

+1. Now go shopping at Whole Paycheck...err *ahem* Whole Foods

I only buy gluten-free organic. Otherwise, you are wasting your money.

pasty saltine wrote:

Organic foods also are not sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals.

False.