'Organic' food is it a scam?

Question

Anything that lives or has lived is organic. Plants animals etc. Therefore ALL plants, by definition, are organic. Indeed, a piece of 3 x 2 timber is organic as is a pair of leather shoes.

The organic folk think that the food they buy has not been sprayed but this is not true for so call organic crops can be sprayed as long as they are sprayed with organic chemicals.

Now malthion a toxic insectorcide is derived from plants and so can be used...but by the same token mustard gas is also organic and so presumabley could also be used.

If I had a farm then everything that went through the gate would have the word 'organic' written on it........so I could charge the gullable 50 % more for it.

Any 'organic' folk out there care to comment?

Answer 1

I think it is the biggest con going. How can you have "organic" when there is acid rain?. All those misshapen, scabby veg that you find in wholefood shops that are supposed to be organic is a ploy to get you to buy them!.
The difference between an organic carrot and a non organic carrot, is the non organic will have had a cocktail of small amounts of chemicals sprayed on it, the organic could have been drowned in just one chemical, yet still qualify for organic status.
The rabbits in the field don't care, they scoff the lot, and live to do it again.

Answer 2

I don't personally buy organic that often, because I'm too much of a miser, however I do believe in the principle of it.

The fact is we have no bloody clue what gets put in our food, or what strange hybrid of vegetable we are eating (and whether it is safe or not). Organic food does cut down some of the guess work if not all. Also even if you are not eating organic food for your own health, think of the environment. The pesticides and other freaky things some farmers do/use can be harmful to the environment.

Its not about being gullible, its about actually caring about what goes into your body and where it came from. Your idea about having 'organic' plastered all over non-organic foods would only work on the stupid, as most people realise that if its not marked with the soil association mark, then its probably not really organic.

Answer 3

True the air has pollutants, but the fact is that turely organic products are better for you. The fact that we put so much extra polutans in our bodys is not a good thing. You can see not that alot of the prices of organic products have started to come down and some are very competative with regular products. Organic is not a scam contact Edan foods, and they can tell you more of the benefits. To each there own.

Answer 4

I agree with you, organic food is a marketing scam. Everything does begin organic and someone decides that if they put it on the label of a food, they can sell half the amount at twice the price. I would never do it.
I have a friend that does and when I asked why she did it, and she said that she read somewhere that organic produce contains on average 50% more vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other micro-nutrients, also it tastes better and works out cheaper (?)
I don't believe all this though, if the usual food is so bad, then how come it is still sold everywhere?

Answer 5

Going by the dictionary definition - any food is organic.

The meaning of organic when it comes to marketing food, is that the food has been grown without checimical fertilisers, or was raised eating only 'organic' food.

Yes it's a big con. The reason why we have fertilisers and mass farming is that traditional 'organic' methods simply couldn't sustain the country. There isn't enough land in the UK to grow or raise all the food if we want it to be organic.

Answer 6

To label a food "organic", the food must be certified first by an agency that comes to the places where the food was grown and processed. The organic certifier makes sure that the food is being grown and processed in a way that meets organic standards, which cover a huge variety of bases, from making sure only certified organic pesticides are used, to making sure the soil is being taken care of enough. Only after the farm or processing facility "passes" the certification test can they label their food as "organic".

Answer 7

It's not a scam,
I live near to organic food suppliers, I see the produce grow - and I eat it. It's the only food production that I trust, having found about all the artificial chemicals that non organic producers cover your food with.

Same chemicals that are used to sterilise swimming pool water are sprayed onto non organic lettuces at an non organic farm near where I live. The lettuces are sold to Tescos.........

How can you be sure that growth accelerators injected into livestock does not also affect you, or more important, your children..

Answer 8

Arsenic and succinylcholine are also organic, occurring naturally in consumables, yet nobody would eat either of those knowingly, both being lethal.

There exists a minimum standard for organic, i.e. a maximum of exogenous fertilizer, pesticide, etc., application allowable on those products. However, in countries like Austria, if they detect ANY exogenous applications, they reject the food completely and return it for pig sop. So, there seems to be a lack of clarity in what truly constitutes organic food.

In the end, the best food comes from your own garden. Picking foods early and ripening them artificially robs you of circa 95% of the nutritional content since most secondary metabolites are produced just before ripening which immediately preceeds spoiling. So, much of the food we consume contains less if any of the nutritional benefits those foods might provide even if they are "organic" because we don't allow them to manufacture many of the antioxidants and enzymes and nutrients that otherwise boost our health.

Answer 9

You are right, But with the organic insecticide, im sure they dont add any man made chemicals to aid in the posion making process. Its the same as taking an all natural dietary suppliment. Mustard gas im sure is mixed with other chemicals as well.

But like you said, Pretty much everything is organic or have been organic at some stage in production. I agree.

Answer 10

In order to use the "organic" word you have to match very specific government guidelines.

Some complain that being able to use the term is too difficult - even things that are "harmless" and natural aren't allowed. If anything, organic is harder to achieve than you might think. It also means that all through the food chain there's nothing non-organic (like antibiotics) introduced.

What's a lot easier to justify is "all natural" which, as far as I know, isn't necessarily even regulated, as long as you're not making false claims. What qualifies as natural is open to interpretation.