"organics" news and stories

A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a great piece to update consumers on when it makes sense to spend the extra money to buy organic, and when it doesn't. Their goal was to offer sound advice to shoppers who want to buy organic, but want to watch their wallets, as well. After all, with grocery stores stocking everything from organic oranges to organic beers, it is difficult to tell just from the label what is worth buying for the advantages that organics offer, namely environmentally friendly production and a lower level of pesticides in the final product.

Basically, they found that it is worth buying the foods that you eat a lot of and probably not worth buying things you only eat very occasionally. The "to buy" list includes: apples, peaches, bell peppers, strawberries, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, milk and other dairy products, meat, poultry and baby food. The "not to buy" list includes: broccoli, bananas, frozen sweet peas, frozen corn, asparagus, avocados, onions, processed foods that contain both organic and non-organic ingredients and seafood.

The vegetables were divided up by the Environmental Working Group's data from pesticide residue tests, though growers emphatically state that conventional products are safe. Seafood makes the "not to buy" list because there is still no standard for the production of organic fish, unlike the production of beef and chicken.

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Want to look back on some of the top news, trends and other food related goings-on of the last year? After a jam-packed year of posting, there are some topics that keep coming up again and again. From A to Z, here are our top picks from 2006:

Ad mascots made a comeback and even got spinoff merchandise of their own.

Bacon was just about everywhere

Premium and gourmet coffee is everywhere, and there is an increased appreciation for it.

Dark chocolate is more popular than ever

Energy drinks are a big hit with teens. Caffeinated vodkas are taking the trend even further.

Fois gras is banned in Chicago, although you wouldn't know it to eat there.

Gelato is nearing the top spot on the list of cold, sweet treats that people love to indulge in.

High fructose corn syrup is being looked on with a more critical eye by consumers and removed from some drinks.

Marion Nestle says that when she talks to people, she hears "this phenomenal sense of despair about their inability to do anything about climate change, or the disparity between rich and poor." A despair that she says is alleviated by a trip to the grocery store where "they can make decisions about what they are buying and send a very clear message." Perhaps people really do express these sentiments to her, but unless specifically directed, it seems unlikely that most people make the connection between relieving their feeling of despair over the "disparity between rich and poor" and shopping for groceries - in this case, probably organic ones.

But it is true that consumers have the power to change the marketplace and that they are doing it every day with the decisions they make at the grocery store, as The Economist mentioned in a recent article. The organic food industry is growing by leaps and bounds and there is an ever-increasing call for higher-quality food, held to higher standards, whether they are organic, local, fair-trade, hormone-free, etc.

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Consumer Reports has a little application to test your organic IQ. The program lets you select common items from the "aisles" of their virtual market and lets you know whether it is a good idea to buy them organic or not, as well as supplying the reasoning behind their advice. The three different categorizations are: buy organic as often as possible, buy organic if price is no object and don't bother buying organic.

They mostly recommend "organic if price is no object," but some of their specific recommendations include:

• Buying dairy organic as often as possible. It could cost twice as much as nonorganic, but will help you avoid hormones, antibiotics and "potential toxins in nonorganic feed." (The cost could be mitigated by opting for hormone free dairy).
• Buying organic pasta if price is no object to avoid over-processed food (Nutritional benefits could be increased by opting for whole wheat pasta, though).
• Don't bother with organic cosmetics. CR says that they are allowed to use the organic label if they are water-based and use water in which something organic (like lavender) has been soaked. They also say that they found violations of food labeling standards in their investigation of cosmetics companies.

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At the moment, there is no federal standard for labeling fish as "organic." While cows, pigs, chickens and all sorts of other animals can easily meet existing standards by being fed specific types of food and not getting any hormones or antibiotics added to them, fish are much harder to pin down. Part of the problem lies in the fact that many fish are carnivorous and because there are currently no organic fish, they cannot eat organic feed. Additionally, to ensure that fish are only eating organically, which is not a problem for herbivorous fish, they must be supervised and receive specific feed. If fish have to be supervised to get the "organic" designation, that means that wild fish will not qualify, which is a sticking point for those who actually fish wild fish.

Scientists and environmentalists, however, agree that the organic label should not be applied to wild fish, reminding people that "organic" refers to a type of agriculture and the catching of wild fish is not agriculture.

The debate on both sides has been ongoing for years now and, even when a consensus is reached, it will probably take a couple more years for fisheries to meet the chosen USDA standards and get their products in the market.

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