June 29, 2006

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Organic vs. Local, Hidden Costs of Organic Food

Christopher Wanjek of excellent science site LiveScience cautions against blind faith in an "organic" food label in his latest article, titled, "16 Organic Apples and a Gallon of Gas."

"It might seem sacrilegious to pooh-pooh organic food—that is, food grown in pooh-pooh as opposed to synthesized fertilizers and pesticides. But as revealed in the June issue of Sierra magazine, the environmental price for organic foods is sometimes hidden..."

"The word "organic" has come to mean plant-based food grown without synthetic fertilizers, as well as animals fed organic food during the few months to few years they were alive. It doesn't inherently mean healthy or fair..."

"Unlike the strangely happy cow on a carton of Horizon organic milk, the cows producing the (non-organic but hormone-free) milk sold locally walk freely and feed on grass and hay; they're not pen-raised and fed organic grains they cannot digest, as can be the case with some organic milks..."

Posted by Barzelay at June 29, 2006 3:38 AM | Comments (3) | Food Politics and Culture

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