Organic Beer?
Organic Catnip?
Gimme a Break…

Think that high priced organic free-range poultry you buy from the Free Range-Free Love Commune down at the edge of town is healthier than what you buy at the grocery store? Guess again, Granola Joe.

There is no discernible difference in salmonella levels between free-range, organically produced poultry and conventionally produced birds, according to a recent USDA research report.

USDA-ARS microbiologist J. Stan Bailey of the Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit at the Richard B. Russell Research Center in Athens, Ga., examined 110 processed free-range chickens from three organic producers, and found that about 25% of the chickens tested positive for salmonella. Chickens raised conventionally had about the same levels.

Thus, the decision to purchase free-range chickens shouldn’t be based on the belief that such a chicken is microbiologically superior, according to Bailey.  Studies have also shown that antibiotic use in animal production results in healthier animals, and the meat derived from these healthier animals has lower levels of bacteria that can cause food-borne illness in people, according to the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.

Don’t think for a minute, however, that this or any other scientific data will stop the organic industry from profiting upon, or organic fanatics from believing in, the premise that organic products are healthier and safer than the 95%-plus other standard food choices you’ll find in the grocery aisles.

While organic products comprise less than 5% of total U.S. food sales, U.S. retail sales of organic products are estimated at about $9 billion.  So make no mistake, the organic industry is big agri-business, which is ironic, given that organic marketers often position themselves as an alternative to food produced by “big agri-business.”

You can buy organic candy, organic potato chips, organic brownies, and organic soda pop.  Never mind the sugar, saturated fat and empty calories. They’re organic, so they gotta be healthier than the regular stuff, right?

Heck, you can even buy organic beer and organic catnip.  So as Fluffy gets high on her organic catnip and I get tanked on organic brewskies, I can take satisfaction that, even though I paid significantly more, the organic catnip and organic beers are somehow better for me and kitty than otherwise, and that I’m also doing good to the environment somehow by using these earth-friendly products, maybe even saving some dolphins somewhere…

If consumers want to pay more for it, and if producers want to invest the additional time and energy into supplying this niche market at a better profit than otherwise, so be it.  But organic agriculture is not sustainable – no way we’d have the cheap, abundant, high quality food supply we do now if everything was produced organically.

And it’s a market fostered and fed by misperception, with zealots all too willing to denigrate the safety and quality of food produced conventionally (and through biotechnology) while propagating organic dogma.

For example, it is commonly assumed that organic means pesticide free; not true.  Organic producers use fertilizers and pesticides like other farmers, they just use “natural” fertilizer (like manure) and “natural” pesticides (like vinegar) instead of synthetic or “man-made” fertilizers and pesticides. 

This doesn’t mean these “natural” inputs are safer.  Any toxicologist will tell you that every day we come into contact with compounds and chemicals, both synthetic and natural, that can be harmful in large amounts, like vitamins, salt and chlorine. It’s the dose that makes the poison.

As one organic input supply company on the web points out, in the toxicology notes about a Rotenone-Pyrethrins insecticide it sells for use on organic crops: “Even organic and natural products can be harmful if used incorrectly.”  Absolutely. Conversely, both natural AND synthetic pesticides tested, labeled, and approved for use on farm produce are safe when used correctly.

There is no credible research to suggest that organic food is “safer” or more nutritious.  In fact, a nine-month review by the Center for Global Food Issues of monthly food and supplement product recalls, reported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Food Inspection Agency of Health Canada, show products marketed as organic or “all natural” have higher recall and warning rates than conventional foods. 

Says the highly respected American Dietetic Association, in a position paper on organic foods: “Research shows that nutritionally, there is no evidence that organic produce is better or safer than conventionally grown produce. Organic foods differ from conventional foods only in the way in which they are grown and processed.”

Go ahead and shell out the bucks for organic food if you want. Me, I’m just fine with regular eats, thank you. Some will claim a difference in taste; I would argue it’s mindset – if you think organic food will taste better, it probably will. Odds are it will also cost more, look less appealing, and spoil faster.  And there’s a better chance you’ll find creepy crawlies that shouldn’t be there. As the saying goes, the only thing worse than finding a worm in the food you’re eating is finding half of a worm…