The major food producers love ignorant people like you.
You do realize how hilariously ironic it is for you to say that, right? All of this so-called 'organic' food you are eating isn't necessarily organic. Yet, here you are, trying to debate against facts and standards set in place by the USDA which clearly show that not all food labeled as 'organic' is really organic.
@ChefChiTown - thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate that you work in this sector however, trained palates aside, you do not need to work in an industry to enjoy, acknowledge or appreciate good produce.
That's very true. But you do need a trained palate (or at least some sort of sampling experience) in order to tell the difference between organic and non-organic products, whether it be meat, fish, poultry or produce. I think you are failing to see the placebo effect that the word 'organic' offers to people when it comes to their perception of taste and quality.
For instance, farmed salmon tastes different than wild salmon. But, unless you eat the two side by side in the same sitting, chances are, you wouldn't ever be able to distinguish the difference. Meaning, if someone handed you a piece of salmon and asked you to taste it and tell them if it was farmed or wild, you probably wouldn't be able to guess correctly (unless you had thorough experience with the two or possessed a trained palate).
Now, to take that one step further - if someone hands you a plate with a piece of farmed salmon on it, but tells you that it is wild caught salmon, chances are, the placebo effect will happen and you will feel as if you are eating wild caught salmon. You will convince yourself that you are eating a 'better tasting' fish (because wild caught salmon is generally regarded as better tasting), even though you are eating a more bland tasting, farm raised piece of fish.
Things like that happen all the time in the food industry. Terms like 'organic', 'fat free', 'gourmet', 'chef's choice', 'home made', 'artisan', 'fresh', etc - they're all used as part of a sales pitch. Terms like that have very loose guidelines and, in most cases, terms like that don't have any guidelines at all - companies can market food as 'fresh', even if the food itself is weeks old. That doesn't sound too fresh to me, you know? But, customers buy into it, because we (human beings) are too stupid to realize that we're being sold an inferior product that just so happens to have a superior sounding name.
Where I come from Organic means the farmer who lives a mile away grows produce without spraying chemicals all over it. It means the cattle farmer produces beef that is grass fed and hormone free. ALL of the stores that sell beef/pork etc must show exactly where the animal originated right down to the name of the farm.
If we are talking about the USA - I am not familiar with the laws regarding labeling, but if organic is a loose term in the USA that is unfortunate, but dont assume it is like that all over the world.
The term 'organic' isn't just a national term used here in the United States. It is regulated throughout the world. Different countries have different guidelines when it comes to labeling their product (as stated in my previous post), but 'organic' is 'organic', no matter what country you live in.
Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers, bioengineering (also called biotechnology), or ionizing radiation (also called irradiation).
"Nutrition for Foodservice and Culinary Professionals" (sixth edition); Drummond, Karen Eich and Brefere, Lisa M.; 2007
Pg. 31
FYI - the book I reference is used in Le Cordon Bleu culinary schools, which are well known and extremely credible culinary schools, based in Paris, but found all around the world.
Key things to look at here:
"
Organic food is produced without using MOST conventional pesticides..." - meaning, there ARE pesticides that organic farmers
do use. Maybe not every single farmer, but legally and technically, organic food can be grown with the use of certain pesticides.
"...
petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers" - meaning, there ARE synthetic fertilizers that organic farmers
do use. As long as those fertilizers aren't petroleum-based or sewage sludge-based, then the food grown with it can be labeled as 'organic'.
Forget the tomato sauce for a moment. If you had a natural ripe tomato that had just come from a local farm and was grown organically and a tomato that was non-organic. You cut them in to slices and tasted.. you would know the difference, I am pretty sure most people would.
From studies I've done and from the experience I have, I have to say I disagree. Most people wouldn't know the difference. I already used the example of the salmon above.
Some people may consider 'organic' to = more money. I consider it to be, at least where I am from, a better choice. Since money is of no concern to me I do not mind spending more money and I would prefer to give my money as directly to the farmer as possible rather than swanning in to a walmart type shop and handing over pennies to a corporation that is destroying food producers. If I am cooking for my nephews I do not want to be responsible for giving them pesticide infused crap, they will get the best I can find.
I know that you are looking out for the best interest of yourself and for others by purchasing, preparing and eating 'organic' foods, but, unfortunately, just because you are buying something that is labeled as 'organic', it doesn't mean that you are free from consuming any pesticides (or other chemicals for that matter).
Need another example of why I say that? Farmers grow their crops in dirt, correct? Who is checking the chemical content of the dirt? Who is to say that there isn't some run off from a nearby creek that is contaminated with sulfur dioxide or leftover traces of hexachloran (HCH) seeping into the dirt on organic farms?
What about wild animals and bugs? Animals carry chemicals (including pesticides) on their fur and bugs can easily cross-contaminate crops by flying back and forth between them, dropping non-organic seeds into organic crops - all of which can contaminate organic crops with not-so-pleasant chemicals.
Finally, I think it is very unfortunate that food has become this thing we take for granted. How quickly we forget what real food should be and how much it should cost. Money is more important to some people than what they put in to their bodies. I have lived in the USA and find it incredible how cheaply I can buy milk for example, but the milk tastes disgusting and often has a best before date which is a week or two in the future. That is not normal. I dont care what anyone believes or read on msn, milk comes out of a cow is pasteurised and then has a few days before it goes bad. Nowhere else in the world that I have ever been can I buy milk by the gallon so cheaply and have it sit in my fridge for a week and still be good. Think about that... and think about why milk in the USA tastes so disgusting and unlike milk is supposed to taste.
HAHAHA, that's because the US sucks at making milk taste good. The majority of our milk is watered down, 2% crap, which isn't all that good. It's really hard to find whole milk here, because our society thinks that consuming whole milk is gross for some reason. SIGH, America.
This is not a matter of being right or wrong it is a matter of simplicity. What you put on/in produce you then consume. Would you sprinkle a handful of pesticide on your salad before you eat it? Well why would you accept a producer sprinkling the same stuff on your salad before it ever reaches you? And if that is okay with you then that is your choice
You could say the same thing about the animal shit that your 'organic' farmers use to fertilize their crops. Would you sprinkle cow shit on your Cobb Salad before you ate it? No. So, why would you accept a producer sprinkling the same stuff on your salad before it ever reaches you?
That's my two cents.
