Organic - Safer???

'Although the rules governing organic food require health inspections and pest-management plans, organic certification technically has nothing to do with food safety.

“Because there are some increased health benefits with organics, people extrapolate that it’s safer in terms of pathogens,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “I wouldn’t necessarily assume it is safer.”

But many people who pay as much as 50 percent more for organic food think it ought to be. The modern organic movement in the United States was started by a handful of counterculture farmers looking to grow food using methods that they believed were better for the land and produced healthier food. It was a culture built on purity and trust that emphasized the relationship between the farmer and the customer.'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/dining/04cert.html?th&emc=th

as far as I've heard, there was never any peanut butter involved in the recalls, just certain whole peanuts, and the peanut "paste" that is used to make such things as the fillings of peanut butter crackers and other products. There was never any reason for the national peanut butter brands to create such a display except to assure shoppers who didn't know that actual peanut butter wasn't affected. We've probably eaten organic peanut butter every single day since before this scare began.

Unfortunately, the regulations that govern what can be certified have been very watered down the last decade or so. And unfortunately, there have been many huge food corporations buying up many of the organic brands that people trusted for so long and are now producing the same products according to the watered down standards so that's an added step to grocery shopping, trying to parse out the ones that have been sold into their hands. And then the laughable article not too long ago that suggested that GMO foods might actually be good for you. They won't know the affects of that for decades to come.

The other thing that's been afoot is the attempt to discredit organic agriculture. It's not surprising since the very people that bring you corporate agriculture and food like substances are basically the people that call the shots in the Dept. of Ag. and have for a very long time.

That's one of the things that Michael Pollan points out in his investigation of the food industry. When the big boys making the money still call the shots, and they really do pretty much call all the shots and get their way, we're always going to have food safety issues. (The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food really are must reads for anyone who loves food. The intros are boring but the meat of the books are fascinating.)

The other thing is that just because produce is organic doesn't mean you don't have to wash it. There are strains of naturally occurring bacteria in the very dirt things are grown in. E coli isn't the product of a test tube and there are numerous strains of it, not all of which are as dangerous as 0157 H7.

I really feel very comfortable, too, with the food I buy in our coop of local farmers. Not all of them are certified organic growers because the headaches involved and of how little that can mean in the wrong hands, but they are pretty forward about their practices and they feed their family the same things as I'm buying. They are all firm believers in sustainable farming for the health of their land and members can go to their farms any time they want. We all have a vested interest in the coop since the producers are also members and no one wants it to fail. (There are a few of the producers who will tell you that, yes, they do have to use some pesticides and herbicides to produce certain things, like peaches, and the local peanut grower admits that they do, too. I just don't buy their products.) Local CSA's are the same concept.

Is it possible to get burned by something label organic? Sure, more now today than ever with the big labels being able to use that term on their products and not labeling true ownership of some of the old trusted organic labels. And there will always be dishonest people out there in every industry. But I really believe you have less of a possibility when you do buy organic wisely.

Yeah, big ag is worried about the local and organic food movement because it keeps gaining ground. The crap they are spinning out there is worthy of comparison to the movie Brazil or an Orwell plot.

but you know the only things you're dislodging are bacteria from passing birds or unwashed hands in the field. You don't have to worry about pesticides stubbornly clinging to it or taken up by the root systems.

So-called 'organic' pears obscenly high priced here, and couldn't find 'regular' pears at nearby grocery. I WON'T do it. Did see some regs. today at different store, 20 cents less/pound.

and what commercial stuff isn't that bad.

Basically cole crops like broccoli and cabbage are fine and have few nasty things on them but other crops like lettuces and celery...and most fruit...are loaded with pesticides.

Here's one article on what to buy and what to skip: http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/09/pf/organic_food/index.htm

it's a good guide to where the organics are a must and where you can get by with conventional.

http://www.foodnews.org/

The complete data set for reasons why:
http://www.foodnews.org/fulldataset.php

Oh don't get me wrong, I like the short term benefits, too, like the flavor of non-factory-farmed organic produce. Why it is the lettuce I get from my small green-grocer or Whole Foods tastes so much better than the bagged shit from Publix & Kroger, I don't quite get, anymore than I get why Chaquita's organic bananas go straight from green to brown. (Oh, I do know why. I just don't *get* what they don't get.)

But the main reason I buy is for the long-term effects of toxins building up - or lack of.

When it comes to people like the article describes, those who buy organics because "smart" people say they're better instead of taking responsibility for educating themselves about the agriculture business, well, sorry, but they're the ones who are wrecking it. Just because a candy bar says it's organic doesn't mean it's good for you, anymore than a Snickers bar.

herbicide/pesticide contamination. Duh.