Is organic food actually safer? Question from every household answered.

In the past 20 years, the annual spending on organic food and beverages by US household has increased by 27 billion. (Five myths, 2014). Organic food market has been growing as people believe that it is safer and healthier than non-organic food. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) defines ‘organic’ as being “using methods that preserve the environment and avoid most synthetic materials, such as pesticides and antibiotics” (USDA, n.d.). There are several reasons why people might think that organic food is safer than non-organic or the one that uses GMOs. Some of these claims are scientifically backed while some of the claims are fabricated and presented in a way that promotes a certain product. In this paper, I will present how the scientific community has evidences fail to back up the claim, “Organic food is safer because it is grown without added chemicals.”. Foods attributes such as ‘Organic’, ‘100% something’, ‘Pure’, ‘Hormone free’ etc. are used by the consumers as means to achieve their desired ends. Organic food being is actually ‘safer’ both for the environment as well as for our body. A recent study concluded that there is no significant difference in nutritional content between the organic and conventional foods after examining the scientific papers from last 50 years (mayoclinic.org, 2014). The research method of the study was not very accessible and transparent. So, the credibility of this finding is still very questionable. However, a group of researchers from Newcastle university after reviewing and conducting a meta-analysis on 343 peer-reviewed journals have found that there indeed is meaningful and statistically significant difference in the nutritional composition between the two types of crops and products. They also found that the amount of anti-oxidant present in organic foods were 20-40% more than in the conventional foods (themindunleashed.org, 2014). The study is more accessible and has been peer-reviewed as it claims. The meta-analysis that was carried out has its own positives and negatives. While meta-analysis is useful to provide a statistical overview of the results as it increases precision in estimating effects there are several drawbacks to it. Some of them include publication bias, selection bias and heterogeneity of results (Walker et al. 2008). This greatly affects the findings of the studies as fallacies such as ‘cherry-picking’ come into play. Even though this study is accessible, the findings and the method used still are not sufficient to agree on it. Further impartial research methods could be used while making it accessible and transparent to the public to have a better conclusion. Organic food is claimed to be safer just because harmful pesticides are not used. The pesticides used in conventional food production is still safe according to the government standards. The pesticides residue on both the organic and conventional products do not exceed the government safety thresholds (mayoclinic.org). The quantity of the pesticides used might affect the threshold but there is a very little chance that this residue will still be there after washing your products carefully before using it to prepare meals. We do not need to worry and get swayed by the ‘scientific’ claims portrayed by the organic products in their marketing and advertisements. Those are merely appeal to fear. If we are rational enough, then just washing the normal fruits and vegetables properly before cooking will help us get rid of the pesticides residue and save us lots of money that the organic corporations might be aiming for.

Reference:
Aikaterini Makatouni, (2002) "What motivates consumers to buy organic food in the UK?: Results from a qualitative study", British Food Journal, Vol. 104 Iss: 3/4/5, pp.345 – 352

Laufer, P. (2014, June 20). Five myths about organic food. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-organic- food/2014/06/20/43d23f14-f566-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

Nutrition and healthy eating. (2014). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in- depth/organic-food/art-20043880?pg=2

Scientists Reviewed 343 Studies to see if Organic Food is Better for you. Here's what they Found Out. (2014). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://themindunleashed.org/2014/07/scientists-reviewed-343-studies-see-organic-food- better-heres-found.html

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true

Walker, E., Hernandez, A. V., & KATTAN, M. W. (2008). Meta-analysis: Its strengths and limitations. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.ccjm.org/index.php?id=107937&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=360745&cHash=c4f410 96946e87f82f539928262b817f