Organic Food

[Hom3r]

Been watching the news.
What are you views?

I won't pay the rip off prices for food that cost less to produce, and that can contain harmful bugs

[AdamD]

I've only tried it a few times, but I DO prefer organic food, but the cost is to high to warrant changing my shopping list to ONLY organic stuff.

I guess it's expensive because it isn't produced on a mass scale like the "normal" foods.

[Angua]

They tested carrotts and found no nutritional difference whatsoever and in addition found the "organic" version contained more nasty additives.

[Hom3r]

The report on the BBC they bought items for a Christmas lunch, 1 lot non-organic, 1 lot all organic.

The non-organic got £29, the organic cost £42!!

[Maggy J]

You forgot the 'I think it's a big con job' option.

Not sure why you say it costs less to produce, as far as I know yields are lower & not being able to use artificial pesticides & weedkillers, etc, means the farming is more labour intensive.

As for 'bugs' - I would be more worried about pesticide residues, antibiotic residues in animal products plus the high incidence of E.coli, Salmonella & Campylobacter in intensively reared animals, as well, than a few 'dirty' carrots

All 'organic' farming does is bring back the way farming used to be done, with things like crop rotation - not massive inputs of chemicals & pharmaceuticals intended to maximise yields & profits.

Having said that, one thing I don't want to see is a 'takeover' of organic sales by the supermarkets, I would prefer the expansion of initiatives like farmers markets & box schemes, rather than letting the retailers muscle in. If this keeps prices higher, then so be it, at least it actually gives the profit to the producer.

[Tuftus]

I'm with Coggy...

Its all a big con job... therefore do not buy.

One of the more onerous tasks I had to endure this year was taste testing organic free range £9+) vs standard farmed chickens £2.50) with a group of people, including a Michelin-starred chef. The consensus was that the standard chicken tasted better, though I guess that could in part at least be due to conditioning. Chef's opinion was that freshness is more important than being organic.

I certainly don't buy organic.

[Hom3r]

A seller of an Organic chickens said that they tasted better.

IMO thats BS How you cook it and what ingredience you use

[andygrif]

There are many organic things that taste better - organic corn fed chicken is definitely one of them. Also organic milk in M&S tastes better than regular, but organic milk from other supermarkets tastes just the same as regular.

I buy a lot of my meat from an organic free range farm and tastes amazing, especially their beef - which actually tastes like beef, not the chewy tasteless stuff from Tescos.

Personally I don't think there's any point in buying organic foods from places like Tesco, who demand such low prices from suppliers as to ensure that lots of corners will be cut in the production of your food - which is bourne out by the fact that most of the organic veg there looks very sorry for itself.

I phoned up last week for a organic turkey, the butcher said £92 I said I only want one not the whole lot. I went to Iceland and got one for £12.99.

---------- Post added at 08:40 ---------- Previous post was at 07:11 ----------

Originally Posted by Incognitas

You forgot the 'I think it's a big con job' option.

I like organic milk, it's the same price somtimes cheaper and the taste is much better.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by Nidge

I phoned up last week for a organic turkey, the butcher said £92 I said I only want one not the whole lot. I went to Iceland and got one for £12.99.

I'll bet your one from Iceland never saw daylight, was force-fed a questionable cocktail of foodstuffs and drugs, couldn't stand up to get out of its own faeces and lived a thoroughly miserable life.

Personally I think you picked the wrong butcher - my local free-range farm was selling bronze turkey at about £5 a kilo - so it might just have worked out cheaper than your "thing" from Iceland!!

I conscious of the fact that I am starting to sound like a hippie - and I'm not! I buy from the supermarkets - sometimes you have to. But I am also concerned (as I get older and see the disgraceful conditions from where our supermarket foods come from) about what I eat, and how it tastes. But I'm also mindful (since seeing a programme about how animals are slaughtered) that if we are going to eat these creatures, we have a duty to treat them with care and respect before we kill them. And you generally find that the places that do that tend to produce meat that tastes much better. Spot the link!

[Pia]

Originally Posted by andygrif

I'll bet your one from Iceland never saw daylight, was force-fed a questionable cocktail of foodstuffs and drugs, couldn't stand up to get out of its own faeces and lived a thoroughly miserable life.

Maybe the iceland turkey did have less of a roam-free, fresh air and sunshine life, but there are still regulations to follow and rearing Turkeys or any other animal for meat cannot be done whilst inflicting cruelty upon the animal.
Apart from the slaughter bit of course

---------- Post added at 13:24 ---------- Previous post was at 13:20 ----------

Actually, having read this: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/turkey.html

I'll change my opinion from my last post

[Ramrod]

The only reason that we buy organic is to as much as possible avoid pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics etc.......
Taste has nothing to do with our choice.....

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

The only reason that we buy organic is to as much as possible avoid pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics etc.......
Taste has nothing to do with our choice.....

Well, we already knew that Mrs Ramrod had no taste anyway