Organic Food has more useful nutrients produced by organic farming processes without using the different harmful chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers. They are very beneficial to health and body.
Organic Food or Non- organic food:
Organic food:
Organic Food is fresh free from antibiotics and grown by natural fertilizers. Pests are killed by birds, insects, and diff traps without using synthetic methods.
Organic GMO-free feed is given to livestock and examines to the outdoors.
Non-organic food:
Nonorganic food gets by chemicals and not genuine and imitation fertilizers and pests are killed by different harmful medicines. Antibiotics are used for the diseases of livestock. Organic food has beneficial nutrients like Vitamins C, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus, which play an important role in our lives like on our mental and emotional health, and also connected with the environment. The people with allergies to food find fewer symptoms themselves when they prefer organic food. The demand for organic food is increasing day by day because of the people’s belief that it is healthier than conventional ones. The benefits of organic food on our health and mind are as following:
Health:
organic food is produced by fewer pesticides and free of toxic chemicals that may not affect human health and reduce the public health risks to farmworkers and their families because of the pure soil, air, and water in which they play and work, breathe, and drink. The method of green manure to fertilize the land produces good food products. Besides, a healthy diet simply means a healthy mind and better nourishment for a good living and your first wealth is your health.
Antioxidants:
Organic food is free from preservatives and makes it last longer and has the positive effects of antioxidants on a healthy body include the prevention of heart diseases, cancer, eyesight problems, etc.
Effect on heart:
Organic food is good for the good working and condition of the heart especially reduce the effect of cardiovascular disease. It clears the arteries from fat. Food such as leafy green vegetables, fruits, grains that are produced organically prevent different diseases and give a peaceful mind and a healthy lifestyle.
Free from Genetically Modified Organisms:
GMO foods are that plants whose DNA is changed and modified in that way that cannot occur in nature
in order to save from pesticides and produce insecticide through genetic modification techniques.
The essential benefits of GMO-free produced more nutritious and tastier food. When humans take non-organic food, they indirectly consume antibiotics, vaccines, and growth hormones inside which affect their immune system and become weak to fight against different diseases.
Poison free:
Organic farming uses the natural processes to kill pests like birds, insects, and other traps that do not
contain any chemicals like pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides in order to save the consumer and prohibited from organic crops.
Safety of environment:
Organic food farming is done naturally without pollution, conserve water, and soil erosion to give you a healthier and good environment free from synthetic chemicals.
Nutritious food products:
Organic milk, meat, and fish have a great amount of nutritious content because it takes time to grow and give good results. Organic oil makes the food tasty. Olive oil is the best essential oil in cooking.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:**
1. Why is organic food bad?
It affects due to pesticides approved for organic farming or because of airborne pesticides.
2. What is the difference between organic food and regular food?
Organic food like vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk, and meat is produced without Synthetic (human-made) pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
3. Is organic food is more nutritious?
The new study finds that organic food and vegetables produce between 20 and 40 percent more antioxidants than conventional fruits and vegetables. Both offer the same level of nutrition.
Conclusion:**
Organic food is very beneficial for health and also affect the environment. It reduces pollutions. It also helps conserve water, reduce soil erosion, and use less energy… we can also extract essential oil which very amazing effects on health. Organic farmers are true life-savers who work so hard to produce food without mixing any harmful chemicals.
Organic food is broad term that varies from natural food to processed foods. But the main demand for organic foods is that it must not contain any chemicals, poison and it must not be genetically modified ( non-GMO).
Organic and Regular foods … What to prefer?
Regular foods are the foods produced by using regular fertilizers, pesticides and sometimes includes genetically modified organisms.
On the other hand, organic foods are free from GMOs and produced by GMOs. Organic foods do contain pesticides, but the residue is either due to the airborne pesticides due to polluted surrounding or due to the use of pesticides approved for organic farming.
So, if I were you, I would prefer organic food products or at least I would try to do so.
Pros and Cons of Organic foods
Pros
Reduces the risk of health for farm workers and surrounding population
Provides an option for buyer to choose less toxic food products for their family
Due to less exposure to nitrates and other fertilizers and pesticides, the vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, magnesium and iron are preserved
It is proved that milk and milk products from non-genetically modified animals has high level of healthy fats
Cons
Due to increased present demand and awareness of organic food and food products, and low present growth, the price of organic products is expensive
The standards for determining a product as organic is restrictive towards many products that are normally considered organic
Are organic foods free of pesticides?
If you think the organic foods and their products are totally free of pesticides, you are wrong. The organic foods as well contains pesticides, but these pesticides are made of pesticides that are specifically naturally produced
Shelf life of organic foods
The shelf life of organic foods is usually perceived to be less as compared to regular foods because organic foods are not treated with various preservatives to artificially increase the shelf life
But preservatives are not the sole determinants of shelf life but the time of their travelling from farm to store also affects the shelf life of foods
From where can I get organic products?
There are a lot of markets now a days that endorse organic food products. The one I personally follow is Reef’s Organic Box. This is a Lahore based company that sells organic products
Is kitchen gardening an option?
Kitchen gardening is a small-scale gardening that involves growing herbs, vegetables of daily use like tomatoes, chilies, radish, and cucumber etc. This is an easy and efficient way to ease the access to healthy and organic products in a budget friendly way.
From where to start organic food consumption?
There are various organic products you can purchase. But starting with minor changes the following are the organic products you can start adding in your daily food consumption for healthy lifestyle modification
Desi chicken
Pure herbs and spices
Pure honey
Home-made butter (makhan)
Desi eggs
Pure oil
Home-made desi ghee
Whole wheat (chakki) flour
Pure oils
Seeds like flaxseeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds etc.
Conclusion
Organic foods are an extensive topic. There are hundreds of books written on solely this topic. But talking about it concisely, these are health friendly foods that are need of our body in this world full of pollution, pesticides, and genetically modified products. You can start by modifying the foods of regular use like eggs, oils, and chicken etc. If you have a small garden, go for kitchen gardening. But do give it a go for a healthy life.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
