August 28, 2017
Is Organic Produce Better for You?
There is so much controversy over whether organic food is better for us, namely fruits and vegetables. To be certified “organic” companies need to abide by government standards. The product must be 99% organic or more to have the label on the food and be marketed as organic.
However, cross-contamination from other farms next to them often happens, with the wind blowing chemicals sprayed on non-organic farms into organic farms. This makes the organic fruits, vegetables and grains not so clean for us to eat.
The other issue with organic food is that it is much more expensive. Companies market it as better for you, so the price goes up. However, if our food is not really 100% organic and has the possibility of having chemicals leeching into it from other nearby farms, then we really shouldn’t be paying more for these products.
One last issue I see with organic is that unless we are buying directly from the farm itself, the organic food is not as fresh by the time it hits the stores. Often it is on a truck for a week, and then is sitting in the store for a week before the consumer buys it.
So before we go out and only buy organic food, we really need to consider all of these factors. Yes, it is probably healthier than most non-organic food but because of the cross-contamination risks from other nearby farms and the risk of freshness when transported to grocery stores, we really need to re-think whether spending more money on these products is really benefiting our health.
I myself buy organic food 50% of the time. I cannot afford to buy 100% organic fruit and veggies since my family eats a plant-based diet and our volume of food is a lot more than the average person. But I do try my best to eat it 50% of the time so as to reduce the toxins in our diet any way I can. We buy a lot of frozen fruits and vegetables now. When you buy frozen fruits and vegetables, you are buying them at the peak of freshness. They are flash-frozen at the peak of freshness which preserves all of the nutrients and ensures we are getting fresh produce!
