The Australian organic industry is worth $2.6 billion according to the latest Australian Organic Market Report.
Just in case the message gets buried in the detail, here are the main takeaways. You’re much better eating any vegetables than avoiding them because they might not be ‘organic’. And with vegetables and fruit, ‘fresh’ beats organic every time. That’s because the fresher a food, the more nutrients it has – and that includes snap frozen fruit and vegetables available at/or near a farm.
You’ve got to be careful when buying foods that are labelled organic. The term isn’t well regulated in Australia, and you can only be sure it’s organic if there’s a certified organic badge on the packaging by one of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry accredited certifying organisations.
What is organic?
There’s pretty much no evidence of nutritional benefit from buying organic. Organic farming is the production of food without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetically modified components. Organic foods are not necessarily completely chemical free, but the pesticide residues will be considerably lower than those found in produce manufactured with synthetic chemicals. In animals it does mean that antibiotics haven’t been used. The farming techniques also need to be focussed on renewable resources, environmental conservation and animal welfare. With pesticides, you can have organic pesticides rather than synthetic ones.
So, there are many reasons why you might choose organic foods. It’s true that the safety of some synthetic pesticides hasn’t been proven. You might want peace of mind that you’re minimising the environmental impact of the products you’re eating. So consuming organic food for its health benefits is an act of faith with little or no evidence, but it could be so in the long term.
There is one-way organic foods can be harmful. They’re expensive and not always available. If an obsession with organic means you eat fewer vegetables, then that would not be good for you.
What do I do? Well, what I’m about to say is pretty much evidence free.
I buy organic foods which are up the food chain where pesticides and other chemicals may accumulate. That means organic chicken, beef and lamb as well as organic dairy products. I’m also careful about farmed fish. I rarely buy organic vegetables. You can wash them and peel them, and the high-level accumulation of chemicals is less likely.
