Organic food

hamza_naem · October 25, 2021, 8:10am

Organic food is defined as food produced in accordance with organic agricultural instructions. Organic agricultural techniques cycle resources, promote ecological balance, and maintain biodiversity according to various standards worldwide.

What is Organic Food?

The use of specific pesticides and fertilizers in the agricultural practices used to create organic products may be restricted by organizations that regulate organic products. Irradiation, industrial solvents, and synthetic food additives are rarely used in the processing of organic foods.

organic food

The European Union, Canada, United States, Mexico, Japan, and many other nations need farmers to receive specific certification to advertise their food as organic in the twenty-first century. Although the produce from home gardens may be organic, the sale of organic food is regulated by national food safety bodies such as the United States National Organic Program. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) or European Commission (EC).

Fertilization, overproduction, and pesticide usage in traditional farming may have detrimental consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, groundwater, and drinking water sources. In organic farming, these environmental and health concerns are reduced or eliminated.

History of organic food

Agriculture has been considered organic for the great majority of its history; only during the twentieth century was a considerable supply of new items, generally regarded as non-organic, introduced into food production. In reaction to the industrialization of agriculture, the organic farming movement started in the 1940s.

In his book Look to the Land (1940), Lord Northbourne invented the phrase organic farming in 1939 to describe a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming, in contrast to what he called chemical farming, which relied on “imported fertility” and “cannot be self-sufficient nor an organic whole.”

The legal definition of organic food

The National Organic Program (managed by the USDA) defines and certifies organic products in the United States.

Organic food production, unlike private gardening, is a self-regulatory business with government control in some countries. To advertise food as organic inside national borders, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan, and many other nations require manufacturers to receive specific certification based on government-defined requirements.
Foods labeled as organic are produced by organic standards set by national governments and worldwide organic industries in the framework of these rules.

Organic labeling in the United States is divided into four tiers or categories:

“100% Organic”* signifies that all of the components were grown organically. It may also have the USDA seal.
“Organic” indicates that at least 95% of the components are organic.
“Made With Organic Components” means that at least 70% of the ingredients are organic.
“Less Than 70% Organic Components”: Three organic ingredients must be specified in the label’s ingredient section.
The terms “natural” and “all-natural” do not imply that the food was grown and processed organically in the United States.

The public’s opinion

Organic food is often seen as being safer, more nutritious, and better tasting than conventional food, which has aided in establishing an organic food culture. Organic foods are purchased for various reasons, including worries about the environmental, human health, and animal welfare implications of conventional agricultural techniques.

In general, it appears that the attraction of organic food differs depending on demographic and attitudinal factors. According to analysis in the United States, women, young adults, liberals, and college graduates were substantially more likely to buy organic food regularly than males, older age groups, and people without a college diploma.

The belief in the goods’ health-giving features and increased nutritional content appears to be the essential motivation for choosing organic foods. The organic food business promotes these views, which has spurred rising demand for organic food despite higher pricing and the difficulties of objectively validating these claimed advantages.

Psychological benefits such as the “halo” effect are also powerful motivators for buying organic food. Organic cookies, for example, are considered to have fewer calories than ordinary cookies.

Taste of organic food

There is no scientific data that organic food tastes better than non-organic food. Some organic fruit seems drier than conventionally cultivated fruit; a somewhat drier fruit may also have a more robust flavor due to a higher concentration of flavoring compounds.

Some unripe foods, such as bananas, are cooled to prevent ripening while being shipped to market and then induced to ripen quickly by exposing them to propylene or ethylene, chemicals produced by plants to induce their ripening; because of flavor and texture change during ripening, this process may affect the treated fruit’s flavor and texture.

Molecular composition

Studies have looked at discrepancies in nutrients
, antinutrients, and pesticide residues when comparing the chemical makeup of organically cultivated food to conventionally grown food.
These studies are difficult to conclude due to differences in the tests that done, the methods of testing, and because the vagaries of agriculture affect the chemical composition of food; these variables include variations in weather (season to season as well as place to place); crop treatments (fertilizer, pesticide); soil composition; the cultivar used, and in the case of meat and dairy products, the pH of the product.

Nutrients of organic food

Many people assume that organic foods are more potent than conventionally produced meals because they contain nutrients. On the other hand, scientists are not sure that this is the case because field study has produced inconsistent results.

Organically manufactured foodstuffs are not richer in vitamins and minerals than conventionally presented foodstuffs, according to a comprehensive assessment published in 2009.
Organic beef had equivalent or slightly lower amounts of saturated and monounsaturated fat than conventional meat, but more significant levels of total and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2016.

Another meta-analysis published the same year revealed no significant changes in saturated and monounsaturated fat levels between organic and conventional milk, but organic milk had considerably more significant amounts of total and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Antinutrients

Certain foods, mainly green leafy vegetables and tubers, have been discovered to have lower nitrogen concentrations when cultivated organically than when produced conventionally. The USDA has noticed that organically reared chicken may have reduced asrenic levels when examining environmental pollutants such as heavy metals.

Early literature assessments revealed little indication that the amounts of asrenic, cadmium, or other heavy metals in organic and conventional food items differed appreciably. However, a 2014 review found lower concentrations of cadmium, particularly in organically grown grains.

Phytochemicals

Organically cultivated vegetables exhibited reduced cadmium and pesticide levels and 17 percent greater polyphenol contents, according to a 2014 meta-analysis of 343 research on phytochemical composition. Phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins were all found to be more significant, with flavanones being 69 percent higher.

photochemical

Numerous flaws exist in studies on the phytochemical composition of organic crops, including the lack of standardized measurements and poor reporting on measures of variability,
duplicate or selective data reporting, publication bias, and a lack of rigor in studies comparing pesticide residue levels in organic and conventional crops.

Residues of pesticides

Pesticide residue refers to the number of pesticides that stay in or on food. Before a pesticide may be used on a food crop in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency must decide if the pesticide poses a danger to human health.

Pesticide residues were detected in 7% of organic produce samples and 38% of conventional produce samples, according to a meta-analysis published in 2012. Because of the different levels of detection utilized in this research, the results were statistically diverse. All from the European University Institute, only three investigations showed pollution levels surpassing the maximum permissible limits.

The Environmental Protection Agency follows tight criteria for pesticide control, establishing a tolerance for the quantity of pesticide residual found in or on any given food. Although some residue may remain during harvest, residue tends to diminish over time as the herbicide degrades. Furthermore, the residues generally drop further when the commodities are cleaned and processed before the sale.

Contamination with bacteria

contamination with bacteria

The prevalence of E. coli contamination was not statistically significant, according to a 2012 meta-analysis (7 percent in organic produce and 6 percent in conventional produce). While bacterial contamination is widespread in both organic and conventional animal products, there were no statistically significant variations in the incidence of bacterial contamination between organic and conventional animal products.

Norms for organic meat production

To be certified as organic meat in the United States, farm animals must be reared following USDA organic requirements throughout their lives. According to these rules, cattle must be given certified organic food that is free of animal byproducts.

Furthermore, organic farm animals are prohibited from receiving growth hormones or antibiotics, and they must be raised in ways that safeguard native species and natural resources. Organic animal production prohibits the use of irradiation and genetic modification.

Export trade data of organic products in 2011

Specification	Organic products exports in 2011
Summary	Million $	%
Potatoes	1590	0.4
Cherry tomatoes	1139	0.3
Roma (plum type tomatoes)	1171	0.3
Tomatoes	2734	0.7
Onion sets	2246	0.5
Cauliflower	18013	4.4
Brocoll i	9873	2.4
Head let tuce	1868	0.5
Lettuce	85196	20.6
Carrots	22696	5.5
Celery	7082	1.7
Peppers	1979	0.5
Spinach	20943	5. 1
Oranges	14182	3.4
Lemons	6281	1.5
Grapes	60001	14.6
Apples	46200	1 1.2
Pea rs	8921	2.2
Cherries	30624	7.4
Strawberri es	15771	3.8
Blueberries	16367	4.0
Coffee	15212	3.7
Tomat o sauces	21941	5.3
Total	412032	100.0

Safety and health

There is little scientific evidence that a high-organic-food diet is beneficial or harmful to human health, and running a comprehensive trial on the issue is extremely difficult.

health

According to a 2012 meta-analysis, “no long-term studies of health outcomes of populations utilizing predominantly organic versus conventionally produced food measuring for socioeconomic factors have been conducted; such studies would be expensive to conduct; such studies would be expensive to conduct.”

“The majority of the included publications did not explore direct human health consequences,” according to a 2009 meta-analysis. The decrease in antioxidant activity was the primary outcome in 10 of the included studies (83 percent).
Consumer protection

Exposure to pesticides

Pesticide residues have been a significant focus of claims of increased organic food safety. The fact that

acute, massive pesticide exposure can cause notable adverse health effects;
food products have occasionally been poisoned with pesticides, resulting in acute toxicity;
most, if not all, commercially obtained food contains trace amounts of agricultural pesticides" are driving these concerns.

Toxicological testing of manufactured compounds without testing naturally occurring chemicals has resulted in an imbalance in both data and perception of chemical carcinogens. Three arguments raised in this discussion suggest that natural and manufactured substances should be compared.

The vast majority of substances to which humans are exposed are found in nature. Despite the reality that every natural chemical is harmful at some amount, the public prefers to conceive of chemicals as exclusively synthetic and synthetic chemicals as toxic.
As a result, we estimate that 99.99 percent of pesticides consumed by people are natural. Despite this significantly higher exposure to natural chemicals, synthetic chemicals account for 79% (378 out of 479) of the compounds assessed for carcinogenicity in rats and mice (that is, they do not occur naturally).
It is a common misconception that people have evolved defenses against natural chemicals in their diet but not artificial ones. On the other hand, animal defenses have evolved to be more generic than specialized for individual chemicals; also, defenses are often inducible and defend effectively against low doses of both manufactured and natural substances.

Because natural and synthetic chemicals have comparable toxicologies, one would anticipate (and find) a similar positive rate for carcinogenicity in both synthetic and natural substances. Chemicals evaluated on rats and mice had a 50 percent positive rate.

Contamination by microbes

In comparison to traditional farming, organic farming prefers to use manure as a fertilizer. This practice appears to suggest an increased risk of microbiological contamination from organic food intake, such as E. coli O157:H7, although reviews have shown no evidence that outbreaks are directly connected to organic food production. The 2011 Germany E. coli O104:H4 outbreak, however, was blamed on organically farmed fenugreek sprouts.

Economics

Organic food sales have risen by more than 170 percent globally since 2002, reaching more than $63 billion in 2011, but certified organic farmland has remained relatively modest at less than 2% of total farmland under production, growing by 35% in OECD and EU nations during the same period. Organic items are generally 10 to 40% more expensive than comparable conventionally produced products and can cost several times as much. Organic processed foods come in a variety of forms.

Summary

Organic farming has more significant potential expenses due to poorer yields and higher labor expenditures, resulting in higher consumer pricing. Concerns about human health and the environment are the primary drivers of organic food demand.

Frequently asked questions

People usually ask many questions about Organic food. A few of them are discussed below:

1. Is it true that organic food is healthier?

In terms of nutrition, organic foods are not necessarily better. You get the same health advantages from conventionally farmed foods as you do from organic meals.

2. What exactly are organic foods?

Chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically engineered components are prohibited in organic foods, and they are frequently prepared with less unnatural processes, materials, and circumstances. Pesticides are permitted if they are not synthetic.

3. What are the benefits of eating organic food?

People with sensitivities to foods, chemicals, or preservatives may discover that their symptoms reduce or disappear when eating solely organic foods. Pesticides are less prevalent in organic vegetables.

4. Is organic synonymous with natural?

Although these phrases are frequently used conversely, they have distinct meanings. Artificial insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicides are not used in the production of organic foods. Artificial components or additions are not found in natural foods.

5. What organization certifies organic products?

Organic enterprises in California are certified by USDA Accredited Certifying Agencies (ACAs). To perform certification operations in the state, all ACAs must register with the SOP.

Conclusion

Food that is grown organically is also beneficial for the environment. Organic agricultural techniques help to keep the air, water, and soil clean. It also aids in water conservation, soil erosion reduction, and energy conservation. Crops cultivated organically must be grown in soil free of pesticides and other hazardous substances.