Pros and Cons of Eating Organic Foods

Many people choose or suggested to consume organic foods because it is believed to provide better taste in comparison with non-organic foods.

Moreover, organic foods are safe and contain rich nutrition. It is also better for the environment. There are misconceptions about organic food consumption as it can be a good alternative for food.

With the modern world, organic food sale is increasing every year and getting a good response from people.

Organic vs. Non-Organic

Organic produce:

• The organic foods are grown using natural fertilizers, such as compost and manure.
• Weeds are balanced naturally, such as hand weeding, crop rotation, tilling, and mulching.
• Pest is prevented using natural methods such as traps, birds, and insects. These are naturally acquired pesticides.

Conventionally raised produce

• The conventional foods raised by using chemical fertilizers and synthetics.
• Weeds are balanced by chemical herbicides.
• Synthetic pesticides are utilized for controlling pests.

Organic dairy, meat, eggs

• Livestock is provided all GMO-free, hormone, and organic.
• The plant disease is prevented using natural techniques such as rotational grazing, clean housing, and healthy diet.
• Livestock must follow the passage to the outdoors.

Conventionally-raised dairy, meat, and eggs

• Livestock is used growth hormones for fast-growing and utilize GMO feed and non-organic ways.
• Medications and antibiotics are used to prevent diseases of livestock.
• Livestock may not provide access to outdoor.

Pros of Organic Food

Environment-Friendly

According to experts, the organic farming concept is environmentally friendly. It has the best diversity of animals and plants. In such a way, the Organic-Trade-Association helps to decrease soil erosion as it produces rich soil and assists in plant growth. It also lowers the pollutant of groundwater.

Free from Hydrogenated Fat

The organic foods are fat-free and hydrogenated. Consuming hydrogenated fats causes heart diseases. Therefore, it is a good idea to consume organic food.

It is important to check the nutritional labels saying hydrogenated. It is a kind of trans fats. These are unsaturated fats processed with high-pressure hydrogen and changed into saturated fats. It is a similar process of turning vegetable oil into margarine.

The hydrogenated-fats are available at a low cost. It is also available in crackers, peanut butter, and cookies.

This type of fat is also used in place of oils for frying in various fast foods and restaurants as they get up good heat and able to utilized longer.

However, these hydrogenated fats are not healthy as it causes to increase cholesterol. You may see the product labeled as cholesterol-free, but still, these products cause to clog the arteries.

Hydrogenated fats also comprise of different fats of unsaturated and saturated. These are called trans-fatty acids because hydrogen atoms transfer in the fat molecules in the new location through the hydrogenation process.

Animal-Friendly

Organic products of animal-friendly. People with the concern of livestock have a different way of using an animal. The organic application farming will assure that animals get a free range of conditions and give with a natural diet.

Pesticides Low Levels

Organic foods contain low levels of pesticides which contain less amount of chemicals are utilized for organic food production. But there is also the possibility of conventionally grown production of fruits and vegetables with fewer residues. Therefore, residues could also not have found in 70% of sampled produce.

Healthier Option to Conventional Food

According to research, organic foods contain a nutritional value in contrast to conventional food. It happens because of the absence of pesticides and fertilizers in which plants will be able to provide phytochemicals to promote resistance opposite to bugs and weeds.

It Tastes Better

There are only two ways of organic foods. It helps to taste similar to non-organic products. It is similar to non-organic products. Furthermore, food producers have assumed that different types of meat should be based on diverse taste experiments. On the opposite side, genetically changed food is similar and last longer. However, it can sometimes lose its real and natural taste after processing.

Cons of Organic Food

Easily Goes Bad

In contrast to non-organic food, organic foods are more likely to go off quick. It happens because it does not have preservatives. Similarly, it does not support any radiation procedures.

More Expensive

Organic products are expensive than non-organic foods. Possibly those organic products producing method is very costly that is the reason it not much popular.

You might consider organic products would affordable than non-organic foods since the production cost differently for synthetic antibiotics and pesticides.

Still, the organic products usually cost 20% to 100% more than the normally produced foods.

According to an economy that is slow to respond from a recession, these products price tag most of the Americans not able to afford even though many of them wish to purchase organic products. If you are one of them to buy the organic, then you might have wondered why the cost is high.

Here are the reasons for the high cost of organic food.

No chemicals and more labor

Generally, farmers use synthetic pesticides and chemicals so, they stop reducing the production cost, and make everything work more efficient and fast. Whereas, the organic farmers hire multiple labors to handle the hand weeding, cleaning polluted water, and removing contamination of pesticides.

According to Organic-Farming-Research-Foundation, the price tag of the organic product reflects the real cost of growing foods. It replaces labor and heavy management for the chemical and environmental costs which are supported by society.

Trade overwhelms supply

The organic food retail sales increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 and raised $21.1 billion in 2008 mentioned by USDA. Americans claim 58% to consume organic in place of non-organic foods. However, organic farmland estimates 0.9% of total worldwide farmland organic farms to produce lower than conventional farms. Non-organic farms have farmland and supply to manage costs down as the manufacturer can lower the cost when producing organic products in more quantities.

Expensive Fertilizer

Sewage waste and chemical fertilizers may not be things you want in the foods. Still, conventional farmers use these fertilizers because they cannot afford the high cost and use cheap transport. Organic farmers avoid these chemicals to keep the crops more natural. They use animal manure and compost, which is expensive to transport.

Crop rotation

In place of using chemical, and weed killers, the organic farmers handle sophisticated rotations of the crop to balance healthy soil and skip weed growth. After harvesting the crop, a farmer following organic ways may use that area to develop cover crops, which include nitrogen to the soil to promote crop growth.

On the other hand, conventional farmers use every acre for growing profitable crops. Crop rotation drops the frequency in organic farmers to grow good crops. Farmers find it difficult to grow a large number of crops which is most cost-effective for non-organic farmers.

Post-harvest expenses

Try to prevent cross-contamination after harvesting. It is important to separate the conventional produce. Conventional crops are exported in large quantities as conventional farms can grow more. However, organic crops are managed and handled and sent in smaller quantities as the organic farms produce less, which results in more expenses. Additionally, organic farms are generally located in major cities, which cost more shipping costs.

Organic certification

Getting an organic certification from USDA is not easy or cheap work. Additionally, the normal operation of farming, production methods, and farm facilities must meet with certain standards, which may need a strict record of every day for keeping that must be found for inspection every time. The organic farms require to pay the annual certification and inspection fee, which begins at $400-$ 2,000 a year, which also depends on the agency and the operation size.

Cost of meeting higher loss

Conventional farmers utilized certain chemicals to decrease the loss of their crops. For example, antibiotics and synthetic pesticides that repel insect helps to maintain livestock health.

As organic farmers don’t utilize these, their losses become high. It will result in more farmer costs and raise consumer costs.

Additionally, without including all chemical preservatives to conventional foods, organic foods get the short storage of shelf life and time.

Better surviving livestock

Having animal welfare higher standards also require cost for organic farms. According to Food-and-Agriculture-Organization of the United Nations, the organic feed for livestock and cattle, which cost more than conventional feed.

Organic foods take time to grow

Time is always money for both organic farms and conventional farms.

Most of the organic foods grow slowly and produce a crop with more time. They avoid using growth hormones and chemicals like conventional farmers.

Subsidies

The government subsidies with oriented production help to lower the entire cost of crops. In 2008, the compulsory spending on farm subsidies was $7.5 billion while local foods and organic programs get $15 million, mentioned by House-Appropriations-Committee.

Saving Tips on Money

Try to get the benefits of organic products from the market of farmers. You need to get the support from local farmers and buy the food at the lowered price as you are cut the middle man retailer.

It is essential to note that you do not require to buy all organic foods. According to the Shopper’s Guide of The Environmental Working Group, the are 15 types of foods with low pesticides:

• Onions
• Kiwi
• Mangoes
• Sweet corn
• Pineapples
• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Sweet peas
• Sweet potatoes
• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Grapefruit
• Mushrooms

No Health Benefits

It is an often-famous belief that organic foods provide health benefits in comparison to non-organic foods. However, there no reports about the health benefits of organic foods. However, there is no reason to think that it will give a healthier substitute to non-organic foods.

No Proof of Nutritional

According to the research Swedish and, British food agencies discovered that organic food does not consider safe in contrast to conventionally produced foods. However, it is safe to consider that organic food has similar nutrition’s as non-organic foods.

Low-Level Pesticides

According to the National-Academy-of-Sciences, low-level exposure of pesticides causes to harm the fetus and children because they have a sensitive immune system. Similarly, it is not beneficial to pregnant women as it keeps the strain over soft organs.

Pesticide Contamination

The pesticide can be prevented over the plant from drinking water. If tap water present in pesticides, it can be unsafe said by the Environmental-Working-Group.

High Levels of Bacterial

Organic foods production contains high levels of bacteria. It is the reason that organic food consumption has a link with the risk of getting e-Coli bacteria in your digestive system. The e-Coli bacteria cause to harm pregnant women and children as they have a sensitive immune system.

Risk of pesticides

Pesticides are the main concern while considering organic and non-organic foods. The accumulated pesticide causes the human body to come in contact with the harmful thing. The chemical build-up creates health problems like headaches, birth lacks, and a vulnerable immune system.

According to some studies, using pesticides at low levels also cause to raise the risk of various cancers such as brain tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, prostate cancer, and breast cancer.

Fetuses and Children are more likely to get affected

Pesticide exposure affects the children and growing fetuses and hinders the brain and body development. Having pesticide exposure at an early age causes a delay in development, harm immune system, autism, behavioral disorders, and motor dysfunction.

Pesticides also passed from a mother to her child in the womb and through breast milk.

The more use of pesticides also occurs from superbugs and superweeds, which require extreme toxic poison to kill it such as Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

Does peeling and washing produce remove pesticides?

Rinsing food lower the risk of pesticides but does not remove pesticides. Peeling foods sometimes works, but important nutrients drain with your skin. The good approach is to consume different nutrients, scrub, and wash the foods thoroughly and get organic whenever possible.

The best value for your money when shopping organic

Organic foods are expensive than non-organic grown foods. Keeping some priorities may help to make it possible to buy organic food and manage a budget.

Know your food pesticide levels

Some conventionally grown foods contain high pesticides than the other foods that need to avoid. The foods with low pesticides are safer to buy. According to the Environmental-Working-Group, the non-profit organization discovers the results of pesticide testing from the U.S government that provide a yearly updated list of foods that help to make choices.

Vegetables and Fruits where the organic foods label matters most

The Environmental-Working-Group said, here are the best organic foods to buy include:

• Apples
• Celery
• Grapes
• Potatoes
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Spinach
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Hot Peppers
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Kale/Collard Greens
• Nectarines (imported)

Consuming a balanced diet requires considered by people for purchasing organic foods. Vegetables and fruit consumption with starchy and carbohydrate foods can be good. You need to limit two serving of protein-containing foods every day and two serving of dairy foods containing low fat.

Doing this helps to consume low fatty and sugary foods. Make sure that you are eating the right diet in everyday consumption. You can add some organic foods in your daily diet.

Although adding the right food in a healthy diet helps to manage a good lifestyle. Knowing about your diet makes it less challenging.