Organic Food

The whole idea with "organic food" is that it should be produced using natural methods. This excludes the use of synthetic herbicides and pesticides; limit fertilization to use of biological like manure; livestock should be brought up in a decent way and be fed properly; the product can not contain additives. In many ways it has become more than just about the way food is produced, it has ideological meanings too.

Labelling And Standards
This is a big and quite complicated matter. There are international organisations lik "IFOAM", "OCIA" and "Ecocert" who has put down some standards for organic food (they also label food). However none of these are recognized all over the world, many countries have their own agencies and standards. In Sweden we have one for the European Union ("EU-Eco-regulation") and one for Sweden ("KRAV"). On import a product is labelled by that country´s specific organisation. It would of course be better with uniform regulations and labeling, but it is very far from happening. Most of these organisations have regulations for workers right, clean transports and many other things that doesn´t really belong to organic food production. Since labeling vary from country to country you must procure that information yourself in order to understand what they mean.

Why The Boom?
The annual growth of the organic market has been 20% for the last 20 years. Of course you cannot ignore pure health concerns, organic food production is in a way a lot sounder. The reason must also be seen in connection with a new "green wave" - Environmental concerns, animal rights and a more holistic approach to life are all part of that movement. Large groups of the world population have started to question the positivistic manner the Western society has developed, how science has become the uniform answer to everything. Some argue that since much more people does not confess themselves to a religion today, this holistic back-to-nature approach has arisen in its place.

Pros And Cons
When facts come to facts you can for sure say that the environmental impact when producing organically is less then when using other methods - this can be slightly buffered by lower yields resulting in use of more farm land. Another pro is that organic farming is better for farmers since pesticides are harmful. Most studies, not all, confirm, that organic food is more nutritious and contain less residues of posion. The taste is arguable also better, from my own personal experience I most certainly agree.

Cons can be that something called "organic" might have been quite harmful for the nature, just because a pesticide is organic does not make it healthy. An over belief in everything natural as healthy and good is not very accurate, organic products can be very toxic and damaging. Another con: In a long perspective we might have an enormous world population and that only can be fed if we apply the use scientific methods like genetical manipulation. Another definite con is that the price for organically produced food is much higher, expensive production and short storage times are main reasons.


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