HOW TO PURCHASE ORGANIC FOOD

At the grocery store or the farmer’s market, organic food (alimenti biologici) is marked with “100% organic” or “made with organic ingredients.” For foods that aren’t labeled organic, go to the “organic” or “made with conventional ingredients” section. Organic foods are typically healthier due to the regular dose of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals such as B vitamins, iron, zinc, copper, magnesium, and protein.

HOW TO GENERATE ORGANIC FOOD

If your family opts to purchase organically, you’ll need to learn how to grow and prepare your produce. Follow these guidelines for organic produce:

CHOOSE QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY

Nutrient quality is more important for organic foods than for non-organic foods. Organic produce should have a minimum of 20% nutrition content, at least half the quantity of non-organic fruits and vegetables, and a greater portion of nutrients. To get the most nutritional bang for your buck, purchase organic:
Choose organic fruits and vegetables without soy, corn, “dried” algae, or …. ALL non-organic produce has the possibility to grow plants and produce them with nutrients that consume soil, rocks, nutrient-rich air, water, sunlight, bacteria, viruses, and the human as well as animals who eat them. However, organic food grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, and/or other chemicals have around 20% nutrient content but are grown with nutrients themselves. By choosing organic fruits and vegetables, food production is reduced by 50-80%.

CHOOSE FRESH ORGANIC ORGANIC

In Australia, strawberries grown without synthetic pesticides and herbicides have had an increased prevalence of non-fatal sprains, and reports are concerning neurological health effects from ingesting drift and fly-spray dust particles created when conventional farming practices such as monocultures are destroyed by butterflies for mowing in herbicide-sprayed or genetically modified crops. New evidence from the European MILD Environment Campaign has found that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in organic produce have a high probability of polluting water and that organic food grown with pesticides has about a 50% higher occurred risk of pesticide residues in human breastmilk and menstrual tissue. Brazil, Canada, and Washington State have banned GMOs for food and feed due to concerns about their detrimental environmental impacts.

Dairy products such as yogurt, cheese, butter, and milk are considered inferior when compared to their processed organic counterparts. None are considered “100% organic” until processed in a certain way so they still meet USDA organic standards.

USDA organic eggs must be obtained from chickens that have been not exposed to antibiotics, and live animal hides may not come from any source that has been genetically modified.
Organic meat and poultry must not be fed antibiotics or growth hormones, are allowed to graze on pasture for the first six months, and do not have to be any animal byproducts (including bones, blood, or hair) that may be treated in any way, including irradiated, slaughtered, or de-sexed.

What is Organic Marketing Anyway?

Organic marketing has its roots in the desire to make foods as unique as possible. The openness with which these concepts are embraced cannot be underestimated. Organic farmers just aren’t afraid to try anything, including using unconventional methods of raising their products. If they can keep their products as unique and exciting in their final form as they are in their initial growth stage, it naturally leads to higher sales.

The key to success in organic marketing is creating a cohesive product offering that appeals to a wide audience: professionals who want to eat better, health-conscious consumers who want to eat mainly natural, millennials who want to buy sustainably, and people who want to look at foods in a holistic way.

Organic farming methods have the potential to boost the profits of a company when implemented properly:
Will using Native American- versus conventionally farmed ingredients lead to a more complete ingredient label? (Learn about International GMO labeling.)