Organic: 3a(1) Of, relating to, or derived from living organisms (2) Of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, or pesticides <organic farming> <organic produce>
Most “organic” food simply ain’t what is used to be. Let me try and explain why. The huge companies that comprise our modern food industry can be summed up in one word – money. That’s it; the more money they make the happier their shareholders and management will be. More money makes them more competitive and more powerful. It’s simply the dominant force that drives them. No secret here. Please remember that these companies are not in the business of doing primarily what is genuinely in OUR best interest. As a result, they are not in the business of producing food that optimizes peoples’ nutrition and health. The problem for us is that when something pure and real like “organic food” represents a golden opportunity to make more money, these companies will get involved. This unfortunately, is bad news for us.
The word “organic” is a super brand unto itself in today’s modern industrial age. It conjures up visions of real, pure food with no pesticides, chemical fertilizers or herbicides and no genetic engineering. We tend to think of cows and chickens happily wandering around beautiful green fields, no confinement, no hormones, no antibiotics, no corn or other crap in their feed. Indeed, we picture the answer to all of these problems – in one word.
We picture idealistic farmers using only back breaking work and Mother Nature to produce real and healthy food untainted by corporate and industrial meddling. We picture hippies on communes or some grass roots agrarian religious culture working the land with only primitive tools and methods. The yield is natural, healthy and pure food brought to you courtesy of the sun, earth, water and hard working people. We picture something completely outside of corporate control. This is just not the food you would expect from some huge, modern industrial complex. Think again!
The market for organic foods is now well over $12 billion per year. This market, built on the backs of the aforementioned small farmers and hippies became ripe for the picking by the huge food companies just a few short years ago. With the organic food segment growing at over 20% per year and the other sectors of the grocery industry slumping along at a couple of percent per year, we should have known that these companies weren’t going to leave this one alone for very long.
Here’s where we get to the bad news; many of hippies have sold out. You are more likely to get a tour of their original commune in their new Hummer – them at the wheel with a short hair cut, in a $2,000 suit trying to reconcile their compromise with the very industrial machine they were fighting. They would likely be telling you all of the really good things about General Mills. This is an ironic and monumental sellout of epic proportions; it would be right up there with, oh I don’t know…. Black Sabbath putting out a disco album. Money is a very powerful seducer. Everything the movement and the word “organic” stood against and protected us from has literally swallowed up and consumed the word. Sadly, what started out as an answer to the evils of industrial food has become part of it.
Once they had their eyes on the prize, one of the first things our modern food industry needed to do was surreptitiously broaden the definition such that their industrial processes would easily fit into the scope of this powerful word. Indeed, the USDA from 1990 forward, bowing and cowing to the all-powerful corporate interests watered down and extended the boundaries of the term.
I bet you never knew that “certified organic” could include the following: genetically modified crops, irradiated food, sewage sludge in food production, food additives, synthetic chemicals, and preservatives. I bet you didn’t realize that “organic” cows are still confined, side by side in grassless enclosures, eating genetically modified “organic” corn. The livestock raised under this vast definition are hardly protected under its new rules. Provisions for these animals like “access to pasture” or “access to the outdoors” are vague, unenforceable and therefore meaningless.
In the world of organic chicken production, to get past those pesky rules on steroids and growth hormones, industrial organic chicken farms are cross breeding chickens with a laser-like emphasis on increasing the size of the chicken breast at the maximum speed. We have a little problem here in that these genetically engineered chickens’ little legs won’t support their grossly increased breast size and they collapse on themselves. (I think evolution does a better job – but tell that to our modern industrial chicken producers). (Most of the facts above are courtesy of Michael Pollen’s great work).
In the end we have overpriced organic meat, organic milk, organic pizza, organic processed foods and even organic tv dinners conveniently available at you local Whole Foods store or even Wal-Mart. These foods are more expensive yet still contain many of the same chemical ingredients that the old processed foods are made with. Instead of high fructose corn syrup you will find “organic” high fructose corn syrup. What we don’t realize is that the very idea we are paying extra for, which gives us comfort and makes us feel we have “done the right thing” has been high-jacked, adulterated, debased and bastardized by the same old bad guys.
Okay, okay – no, eating organic won’t kill you. It’s better than not eating organic. What I am angry at is how the word has been stolen, not the purity of this great idea or the original, true organic movement. Several studies have confirmed that organic fruits and vegetables are more nutritious to eat than their non-organic counterparts. Just do me a favor and let your trust and consumption of organic food correspond inversely to where it is on the food chain and how processed it is.
It’s much better to buy lettuce or an apple than organic meat. Animal food is higher up the food chain and more likely to be ill-affected by the way the term “organic” has been compromised. Whereas, our modern food industry just can’t subject fruit and vegetables to as much of their mischief. For God’s sake don’t buy any organic processed foods like pizza or tv dinners or any of the other usual suspects. That is exactly what they want you to do and this is where they can make the most money – selling you the same crap with a few trivial changes but for a hugely inflated price.
Please don’t be allayed and pacified by the organic food packaging you will see showing quaint farm settings and telling tales of food “the way it used to be”. Yeah….. farmer Brown with his 50 acres, cute little pond, 58 chickens and his cow “Bessy” just supplied 1200 whole foods stores and 8000 Walmart super centers with all of their organic food! My ass! They’re lying. This is nothing but misrepresentative marketing. The milk, hamburger patties, and the chicken breasts came from the same brutal confined animal feeding operations jammed with sad tortured animals eating organic corn from the organic force-feeding trough.
Finally, avoid buying organic food from large retail chains because you are paying for their size. You see, they can’t buy from small farms that refused to sell out or that would sell to them because their volume is just too big. So, they have compromised the food to fit into their industrial system. The simple answer here is to buy from local farms and farmers’ markets as much as possible. They are springing up everywhere, often have home delivery and in my experience are often cheaper than the big retailers. Most importantly, the food they produce is much likelier to be up to the true “organic” standard. I’ve done the research and have proven this to myself. You can put all of your fears and worries to rest with one simple decision. Remove your “organic” food from our modern industrial agriculture’s food loop.