Do you buy organic food? Do you think it's better for you? Or do you think it's over-priced and over-hyped? Would you buy more organic food if it was cheaper? Has your thinking on food changed over the years. Do you check out where food comes from at the supermarket. Let us know your opinions here and check out our organic article Food for Thought. Ed
I think organic food producers are just taking advantage of people's ignorance towards science nowadays.
Selective breeding has been happening for centuries, only now instead of it been done with a gun, it's done with a gene gun.
With the ever increasing population of the planet, there will not be enough food for everyone unless we take action. We could grow GM rice that needs less water, we could grow rice to contain essential minerals to help the malnourished people of Africa, we could do many good things with GM.
In a few decades, buying an organic carrot could mean more than just an extra 15 pence on your shopping bill, it could be depriving someone on the other side of the world of food.
The future is GM.
quote:
Mrs Thatcher:To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.
Well i'm old enough to remember the days when pretty well all food was organicish, those were the days of a shop on every street corner and you bought fresh each day, no supermarkets no high volumes of production no long life shelf products no need for colourings,preservatives ect, might be interesting to compare relative percentages to population of cancer statistics, just makes you think, and yes organic is over priced as are most things in this country, it's just part of the rip off culture we've developed
Well I think back in the days when food was all 'organicish' we didn't mess around with it as much as we do today. Food production now is about high yields and profits so that the smaller farmers are bought out by the big boys. I personally think that organic is the best both by taste and health. When I was a kid I used to eat tomatoes as if the were sweets but now they are tasteless. I don't want food full of carcenagenic pesticides so I do pay the extra although I do think the supermarket giants are taking advantage of consumers who are concerned about their health.
Just having returned from Philippines I met a Filipino nurse who works in Manchester on a cancer ward. She thought it was our food and pesticides that caused such a large number of cancers. She pointed out that the majority of their food was organic. We only use pesticides to keep high yields at a cheap price whereas other countries do lose a lot of crops to insects etc but I think that's nature and life and we have to pay for that.
I buy organic food ONLY when I am reasonably certain as to whether it genuinely IS organic (Note the recent high publicity case of the butcher selling non organic produce at organic prices), ie from a local farmers market where I can visit the farm if needs be.
Sadly the whole of the Western world, if not the whole world, is run by accountants and the bottom line. The biggest motivating factor in pricing seems to be greed, "What is the highest price we can charge for this and still have people buy it?"
Having said that, the organic produce that I do buy is definitely superior by an order of magnitude in flavour to mass produced supermarket varieties although I have yet to find any kind of meat that has the flavour of meat I ate as a child. Is this merely a misty eyed rose tinted view of "the good old days?" I have no idea and can only go by how things taste to me now. One thing I am certain of is that the current lifestyle of food as being fast and convenient is not one that is good for long term health and I shall continue to eat organic when I can and at least by preparing and cooking my meals at home I KNOW what has gone into them.
I have a feeling that much of so-called "organic" food is, alongside mineral water, a huge marketing con, whereby worthless or sub-standard products are sold at hugely inflated prices to gullible, ignorant and hysterical consumers. As for the Philippines, life expectancy is about 10-15 years less than the UK so I am struggling to see the net benefit from the lack of pesticides in their diet - in any case much mortality from cancer in the UK is simply due to the fact that as people are living much longer they are developing such conditions at extreme age. One of my grandfathers was recorded as dying of cancer, but he was well into his 80's at the time.
I would be happy to buy GM foods i think its the only way to go. No food was meant to be mass produced like it is today and i think mass produced organic foods will lose its flavour because a crop that produces quantity rather than quality will make more money.
Organic tomatoes just dont taste as good these days. Not even close to uncle freds tomatoes from the allotment.
i think we should get further in touch with the food we eat and as such, grow some of it ourselves. i was inspired by this japanese organic farmer growing japanese vegetables in the uk in a traditional english manner. check out the organic farmer section at www.foundintranslation.co.uk. i have begun growing veg and herbs from many areas of the world, using organic practices throughout.
I'm not worried that non-organic food will hurt me, but there are environmental problems with pesticide use - and health problems for farm workers, esp in poorer, under-regulated countries.
so if i can afford an organic version of sg, i buy it. a bit like i do for fair trade.
I bought some organic prawns a few weeks ago thinking they would be better for me than inorganic. Hang on but; how do you tell the difference? Anyone know what makes a prawn organic? Are they farmed? If so does this not contradict itself?
Yeah Ericcy P but as long as it's organic poop?!? it MUST be good for you. Ever eaten sausages? If you had worked in a butchers shop you would regard poop as a delicacy compared with some of the crap I've seen thrown into the mincer.
Sainsburys Organic beef burgers are NOT as nice as Sainsburys Aberdeen Angus beef burgers, but the organic ones cost £2.50 for 2 and the Aberdeen Angus are only 99p each!
I am always very careful when it comes to meat. I hate what they sell in supermarket these days (espacially after what i saw in a documentry on supermarket meat packaging few months ago.) I tried tortotor] meat delivery service on christmas. They are quite good actually. Hope one day our supermarkets will sell better meat at reasonable rates. I am so tired of it may be one day i will have my own farm one day and start growing my own food and have my own chickens. Leaving everything just for better food is stupid or may be its not.
What if you were a single mum with 3 childrem, living on benfits? How can they afford to pay an extra 80p for chicken? Organic food isn't good for them who are struggling to buy basic food as it is. How can the government solve this? Organic food is over priced, they should start to think about the overall econonmy instead.
I can't always afford to buy them but after hearing all the benefits organic food can have on your health (from the likes of Gillian Mckeith) I can't help but think it's worth the money. Every now and again I would opt for the organic option, especially apples and chicken! Mostly as a result of the channel 4 documentaries on caged chicks.
