http://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/organic-food/
Organic food sales have gone through the roof. It’s no wonder. It’s widely believed that organic foods are more nutritious and safer than non-organic — they’re even said to fight cancer — even though the evidence is far from clear. Consumers have been paying a lot to eat organic; food certified as organic sometimes costs twice as much as conventional products. The premium prices may not be buying everything that’s promised.
About three-quarters of grocers in the U.S. sell organic food, including specialty markets, like Sprouts, and mass-market retailers, like Wal-Martand Target. While that’s only 4 percent of total food sales, demand in the U.S. and Europe is growing. The trend is driven both by rising interest in locally grown food — more than 80 percent of farmers marketssell organic food — and fears about food safety. Roughly 48 million Americans every year becomesick and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases. To be labeled organic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says food must be grown without synthetic fertilizers and must be free of genetically modified organisms; meat must be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones and the animals must have access to the outdoors. There are similar standards in the European Union and Japan. In China, demand for organic food isskyrocketing after a series of scandals over tainted food has consumers willing to pay double for organic kale and other items.
The Background
Until the invention of pesticides, all agriculture was organic. Poison gasresearch in World War I led to bug-killing nerve gases, including sarinand DDT, which was so effective at killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes it won its inventor a Nobel Prize. After Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” documented the dangers of DDT, the chemical was banned for use as a pesticide in the U.S. in 1972. In the 1970s, the first industrial-scale animal farms in the U.S. began popping up, first for egg production, later for pigs and cattle. Yields increased, but so did worries: These animals are often treated with antibiotics and consumption of the meat has led to more drug-resistant infections in humans. Health-food stores began appearing in the 1960s; New Age Natural Foods, opened in San Francisco in 1965. In 1990, after the USDA passed the Organic Foods Production Act to develop national standards, organic products became more common.
Just because food is organic doesn’t mean that it won’t make people sick, and fertilizing crops with improperly composted manure can result in E. coli contamination. Some say eating organic food doesn’t improve health. In fact, plenty of foods labeled organic aren’t inherently healthy. (Organic gummy bears?) Nutrition aside, one thing organic foods have going for them is popular opinion — 41 percent of Americans say organic tastes better than non-organic.
Organic food sales have gone through the roof. It’s no wonder. It’s widely believed that organic foods are more nutritious and safer than non-organic — they’re even said to fight cancer — even though the evidence is far from clear. Consumers have been paying a lot to eat organic; food certified as organic sometimes costs twice as much as conventional products. The premium prices may not be buying everything that’s promised.
About three-quarters of grocers in the U.S. sell organic food, including specialty markets, like Sprouts, and mass-market retailers, like Wal-Martand Target. While that’s only 4 percent of total food sales, demand in the U.S. and Europe is growing. The trend is driven both by rising interest in locally grown food — more than 80 percent of farmers marketssell organic food — and fears about food safety. Roughly 48 million Americans every year becomesick and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases. To be labeled organic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says food must be grown without synthetic fertilizers and must be free of genetically modified organisms; meat must be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones and the animals must have access to the outdoors. There are similar standards in the European Union and Japan. In China, demand for organic food isskyrocketing after a series of scandals over tainted food has consumers willing to pay double for organic kale and other items.
The Background
Until the invention of pesticides, all agriculture was organic. Poison gasresearch in World War I led to bug-killing nerve gases, including sarinand DDT, which was so effective at killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes it won its inventor a Nobel Prize. After Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” documented the dangers of DDT, the chemical was banned for use as a pesticide in the U.S. in 1972. In the 1970s, the first industrial-scale animal farms in the U.S. began popping up, first for egg production, later for pigs and cattle. Yields increased, but so did worries: These animals are often treated with antibiotics and consumption of the meat has led to more drug-resistant infections in humans. Health-food stores began appearing in the 1960s; New Age Natural Foods, opened in San Francisco in 1965. In 1990, after the USDA passed the Organic Foods Production Act to develop national standards, organic products became more common.
Just because food is organic doesn’t mean that it won’t make people sick, and fertilizing crops with improperly composted manure can result in E. coli contamination. Some say eating organic food doesn’t improve health. In fact, plenty of foods labeled organic aren’t inherently healthy. (Organic gummy bears?) Nutrition aside, one thing organic foods have going for them is popular opinion — 41 percent of Americans say organic tastes better than non-organic.
No comments:
Post a Comment