Posted: Monday, September 10, 2012 11:49 am | Updated: 12:24 pm, Mon Sep 10, 2012.
My husband cares about the quality of the food we eat, and also about our environmental impact, but we rarely buy organic food because it's more expensive.
We always considered organic food to be a nice luxury, but is it really worth the money?
Last week, the New York Times cited a Stanford study on the benefits of organic meat and produce. Researchers found that "fruits and vegetables labeled "organic" were, on average, no more nutritious than their conventional counterparts, which tend to be far less expensive. Nor were they any less likely to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria like E. coli.
"The researchers also found no obvious health advantages to organic meats."
Wow. Maybe my hubby and I don't have to feel guilty about cheaping out at the grocery store, after all!
The question now is, are those of you who DO buy organic swayed by the survey results? Will you change your shopping and eating habits?
If I had to guess, I would say, no. You won't. Not surprisingly, the Times article attracted some feedback from fans of organic food, and both of the published Letters to the Editor expressed some skepticism toward the Stanford survey.
"Until there is more comprehensive information available, I will stick to my organic food," Pattie Hainer of Norwell, Mass., wrote. "And then of course there are all the environmental factors from conventionally grown food that the study results do not even mention. There is much more work to be done to adequately assess all the positive and negative effects of both kinds of agriculture."
I definitely agree with that. It's hard for regular everyday consumers to know what to believe when we're dealing with the food industry, or any kind of big business.
No comments:
Post a Comment