Organic Foods
Healthy Eating
2010-03-08
What is the definition of Organic Food? For many in simple words it refers to those foods that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals. To make matters more complicated here in the U.S. it refers to food grown and produced within certain production standards.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 as part of the Farm Bill. The National Organic Program Standards were fully implemented in 2002. This specified the processes, procedures, as well as certification procedures and penalties for labeling products organic. According to Food Technology Magazine all products labeled as “100% Organic” must contain only organically produced ingredients; products labeled “Organic” must contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients; the other 5% of ingredients may come from the National List of approved substances. Both may use the USDA organic seal.
What most of us really want to know is, “Is organic food healthier for me?”. But the truth is not that simple. There is much current debate over this topic. A review of scientific studies for the past 50 years found there were no significant nutritional differences between conventional produce and organic fruit, vegetables, meat and milk.
However organic farming experts and others vehemently disagree. Key Finding in an opposing study; there were 236 valid matched pairs across the 11 nutrients. The organic foods within these matched pairs were nutritionally superior in 145 matched pairs, or in 61% of the cases, while the conventional foods were more nutrient dense in 87 matched pairs, or 37%. There were no differences in 2% of the matched pairs.
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