What is Organic Food

Organic foods are those foods which are grown or processed without using any means of conventional farming, such as fertilizers or antibiotics, that are particularly used to enhance crop produce and prevent diseases in animals. In organic farming, crop rotation method is preferred over the use of fertilizers to improve crop production. Though, the trend of including organic food in our daily diet is slowly picking up, many people are still confused as to what it is or why it is better than non-organic food.

Organic Food

Organic foods include fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products etc. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), these foods can be broadly grouped into three categories -

• Foods that are totally organic i.e.100 percent organic.
• Foods that are 95 percent organic.
• Foods made with organic ingredients - these contains at least, 70 percent organic ingredients.

People in favor of organic foods believe that these foods are safer and nutritious compared to their non-organic counterparts. They are produced in environment which qualify the norms set by the USDA. These facilities i.e. the farms, where organic crops are grown and the industries where organic meat, dairy and poultry products are processed, are inspected by the authorities to ensure that they abide by the guidelines that are set by the USDA.

Health Benefits of Organic Food

One of the major benefits of organic foods is that they are healthy. As fertilizers and antibiotics are kept out of the production process, the threat of consuming such harmful chemicals present in fruits, vegetables and meat decreases significantly. When we consume foods which are smeared with pesticides and weed-killers, the traces of these chemicals end up in our body, which proves to be quite harmful in the long run. Organic food benefits for children far exceed the benefits for adults, owing to the fact that the former consume relatively more food per kilo of body weight than the adults, to sustain the requirements of their growing bodies. Replacing the normal conventional diet with organic food is wiser, as these foods provide superior nutrition with minimal damage.

Other Benefits

Organic food is tastier than its non-organic counterpart. Once again, avoiding the use of chemicals to enhance crop and preserve meat turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as this preserves their natural taste, sans the traces of harmful chemicals. More importantly, these foods are locally produced and sold, which means the consumer get fresh stock instead of one's which has added preservatives. The healthy practice of farming used to produce organic foods is not just beneficial for humans, but beneficial for the environment as well. When fertilizers and weed-killers are used in fields, they tend to seep into the ground along with water and pollute the ground water sources. This process of pollution is curbed to a great extent when organic means of farming are brought into practice.

While those were some benefits of organic food, one should also take a note of the fact that everything is not fine about it. Studies have revealed that use of these foods increases the risk of E. coli infection in humans. More importantly, the yield produced is quite less when compared to the yield attributed to conventional farming techniques. One has to take both, the advantages and disadvantages of organic food into consideration, in order to come up with a conclusion. Lastly, organic food products are a bit expensive when compared with conventional food products. When it comes to health though, spending money on preventing ailments is far better than spending it on curing them.