Chances are you're seeing more and more
produce and meats marked "organic." No longer just staples
in health-food stores or at farmers' markets, organic
products are increasingly found in traditional supermarkets.
The U.S. organic food industry surpassed $10 billion
in consumer sales in 2003, according to the Organic Trade
Association, which estimates the market has grown 17 percent
to 21 percent each year since 1997.
Exactly what can you be assured of getting if a product
is marked organic -- and what are the pros and cons?
"Organic means the agricultural product from livestock
or crop has met certain standards," said Joan Shaffer,
a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates organic
standards.
If meat, poultry, eggs or dairy products are labeled
organic, they must come from animals given no antibiotics
or growth hormones, according to the USDA. Organic produce
is made without using "most conventional pesticides; fertilizers
made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering;
or ionizing radiation," the USDA says.
If a label says "certified organic," it means the agricultural
products have been grown and processed according to USDA's
national organic standards and then certified by one of
the USDA-accredited certification organizations.
The certifying agent reviews applications from farmers
and processors for certification eligibility, explains
the USDA. Then, qualified inspectors perform annual onsite
inspections to be sure the growers comply with standards.
The standards spring from the Organic Foods Production
Act of 1990, passed by Congress to establish national
standards.
The USDA does not make any claims that organically produced
food is safer or more nutritious.
Ryan Zinn, a spokesman for the Minnesota-based Organic
Consumers Association, said organic foods are safer and
healthier.
"We can't say organic foods are totally free of pesticides,
because there is some pesticide [residue] in the ground
water," he said. "But there's really a lot of emerging
evidence to suggest that organic foods are higher in nutrients."
A study published in 2004 in the Journal of Agriculture
and Food Chemistry compared organically and conventionally
grown yellow plums, finding that ascorbic acid, vitamin
E and beta-carotene levels were higher in organic plums.
But some other nutrients, including quercetin, a bioflavonoid,
were higher in conventional plums, the researchers found.
Some pesticides, Zinn said, have been tied to health
problems. For instance, methyl bromide has been linked
with cancer, he said. "All these pesticides that have
been used aren't going to kill you outright," he added,
"but the cumulative effect is not good."
But not everyone is convinced that organic automatically
means healthier or pesticide-free foods.
"Organic farmers use pesticides, too; they have to,"
said Alex Avery, director of research for the Hudson Institute's
Center for Global Food Issues, a Washington, D.C.-based
think tank.
"They call them botanical products" instead of pesticides,
Avery added. For instance, he said, some organic farmers
use pyrethrum, a derivative of the chrysanthemum plant.
Avery also claims there may be an increased risk of food-borne
illness from organic food, due to the use of manure or
compost. He cited a study, published in 2004 in the Journal
of Food Protection, that found that organic samples
from farms that used manure or compost aged less than
12 months had high rates of E.
coli bacteria.
On one point all sides agree: Be prepared to pay more
for most organic foods. "Expect to pay 15 to 20 percent
more for organic dairy," Zinn said, and two to three times
more for meat.
