Organic Food?

[mudbug]

Interesting Website for information here:

Conventional vs. Organic: Is there really no health difference?

[Chefkell]

Yeah...I've never put much stock in the "organic" label. Don't get me wrong , the idea and products are great when it's the real deal, but who regulates how and when the growers use the word?? No one. It's all maketing.

I met Nora Paullion (The chef/owner of the first official organic restaurant in the country) and asked her what her criteria was for her products. She visits every farm and checks out behind the scenes before she even places an order.

I spoke with another very well known chef and when he opened he ran an add for farmers right along with his ad for cooks and service staff. He hired guys to farm on the restaurant payroll to get the stuff the way he wanted it.

Not everyone can do this, so I think it's high time there was SOME kind of standard put in place here.

[bandregg]

It's important to remember that even farmers who have followed all of the rules to make their produce "organic" which includes rules about number of years since pesticides were used on their land have no control over their neighbors. There are many areas where the ground water is significantly contaminated by large agricultural concerns and this will get transmitted to the smaller producers.

[shroomgirl]

I founded and run a farmer's only market with the majority of them doing organic/sustainable pratices. I do have traditional fruit farmers. Within the past few years there has been an enormous amount of growth in the organic industry and large biz wanted in on the $$$$.....the organic label is now owned by the US govt. with rules set up to accomidate agbiz.
Knowing where my food comes from is important to me, I visit the farms and know who is doing what....Do I buy totally organic, NOPE, but my paradigm is local sustainable/organic practice then local,then organic.....Right now I have 24 pints of black raspberries that were grown locally, not organically but I picked um up and visited the farmers when I purchased them.
There are a ton of threads on this from about 4 years ago.

[chiffonade]

In principle, it would be nice if we could eat food that wasn't treated with chemicals but I can't see paying top dollar for a tomato that looks like crap. Organic produce always seems to be half bug eaten. It's just not that appetizing to me.