Why do we eat organic food , what are your perceptions of organic versus conventional food?

Question

I am doing this as my final year project at University, surveying people who leave in our cities... and asking why buy organic is it worth the money, do you know how it is produced? What's wrong with conventionally produced food? where do your buy your food. Hypotheses......Consumers who buy organically produced food percieve it too be better quaility and beneficial to their health, but along with conventional food consumers have little understanding of labelling and farming methods implemented to produce either. the main factors which Influence buying decisions are price, availability and origin?

Answer 1

Organic food in the Uk is largely a con, unless you absolutely know where and what your buying from there is no real guarantee, especially when there are so many loopholes around which food growers can use to pass non organic food as organic.

It is much better to buy from a farm shop that only sells seasonal foods, that haven't travelled half way across the earth, They will inviabley taste better be more nutrious and last longer.

Answer 2

I think the idea of it is good but I feel that organic food is just another marketing ploy for us to pay over inflated prices for food which is probably pretty much the same quality as normal farmed goods. If anything, organic foods should be cheaper if there is not any other additives or chemicals needed to grow it?

Also, I am aware that for a food to be certified as organic does not technically mean that it is chemical/pesticide free as some others above have stated. Evidentally, it can be something very simple e.g. the foods that animals are fed can be classed as organic but they can pump the animal full of hormones etc yet still put organic on the label. That kind of thing!

So overall? No, I would not make a point of buying only organic food as some do. It's ok if you can afford it but lets face it - most of us cannot afford to eat organic at every meal!

Answer 3

If there is a health benefit, I have yet to determine it, I don't know if the cost is worth the little benefit, it is still transported by conventional methods, handled by dirty hands etc. Non organic produce is as likely to be washed, cooked, etc in the same way as organic produce, it is these processes that will eradicate any organisms on the food. I think on the whole it is a way for someone to make even more money out of gullible consumers, people buy it to be trendy,rather than to be healthy!

Answer 4

in theory, organic would not be produced using loads of fertiliser / hormones / antibiotics, and in theory no chemical preservatives would be used afterwards to help preserver / etc.

and in even cuter theory, organic should also think about the broader effect, i.e. better to buy apples coming from a local farm that were transported over a couple miles, than apples from South Africa where transport probably burned a quart of oil per pound of apples.

and, better to avoid product coming from, say, endangered species (such as cod).

in practice however: (1) there are no very strictly defined labels (I mean officially defined and controlled); (2) Big Food has found out that when you called a product 'organic' you could easily sell it on a high premium and thus make higher margins.

so while in theory organic is better, one has got to be very careful. Especially in those countries where the big guys are the most cynical, i.e. typically the U.S.

Answer 5

GeneFinchfromFruitBasketsofNY.com
The differences between organic and conventional food stems from the method of farming which were used during the food’s production. Many people are unaware of some of the differences between these two practices.

Agriculture has an effect on the environment, so understanding what goes into our agriculture is quite important.

Answer 6

actually there was a study released a couple of years ago comparing organic to traditionally grown produce and the findings kind of surprised the organic community....they had just as many pesticides and such in their products as the traditionally grown produce. the reason was that the air and soil contain these herbicides/pesticides etc from years of use and just the air and environment. the fact that you pay at least 3x times more for organic than traditional makes it really cost prohibitive. the fact remains there is no way anything can be completely pesticide/herbicide free. the organic growers may intend to grow it that way and try to but the environment and condition of the soil and water supply 'taints' their good efforts.

Answer 7

I usually buy organic food when I can. I know these kind of products don't have as many chemicals as the conventional one. However, it is my belief that organic food, isn't 100% organic, as seeds have already been genetically altered (to grow faster, in several climates, etc), rain is no longer as pure as it was (we have acid rains... more in some countries than in others,) and the soils have chemicals, due to rain, water and streams, etc.
Regarding animals, organic means that antibiotics and hormones weren't used on them. But then again, all the chemicals and genetic alteration are in food they eat.
In my point of view, organic food is only 'organic' in some extent. As almost everything have been genetically and chemically altered.

Answer 8

Supposedly produced without chemical fertilisers and pesticides that can be (potentially) harmful to humans in sufficient quantities.
Don't buy very much of it especially when processed. We think it is mainly a con by supermarkets to get more profit by charging even more!
However we do make an exception when buying things like bananas where Sainsburys/Tesco at least give you the growers name. That way (its called fair pricing) the grower gets a bigger share of the profit. That we don't mind contributing to. But the supermarket giants make enough already.
Well that's our opinion.......

Answer 9

I lived in Ecuador for 12 years. U can find an apple down there that is truly organic grown. They were terrible looking as every insect in the county had layed their eggs in the apple so to look at them were full of warts. so approach the so called apples here that have no bites on them with caution.

Answer 10

i do agree with the whole principal - i mean, i like to know that my food is all natural and don't have any carcogenic chemicals on them, but at the moment it's just far too expensive. plus, i know it's shallow, but i do like my food to look nice, and sometimes organic products don't have the same appeal.
if more people bought it, the price would go down, and then i would consider it more.