Thursday, March 4, 2010

When is organic food truly organic? (1)

The popularity of organic food is getting higher nowdays.
At the same time, the organic issue is also getting more controversial.

Hence, there is a need to inform further the public
on what truly organic food is.

There isn't yet one mutually agreed definition of
"Organic" among the international organic communities.

And, exactly because of the 'loosely' defined organic industries,
at times, it draws a lot of debates and misunderstanding/confusion.

At one time, a research study would claim that
organic food is more nutritious;
at another time, another study would contradicts
that organic food is not much different from chemical-grown foods...

Set aside the questionable motives behind some of those research studies,
there are indeed loop holes in calling a crop being organically grown.

This boils down to the arbitrary guidelines/parameters
different certification bodies use to define organic agriculture.
Also, intrinsically, not all aspects of an organic crop can be measured.

In general,
an organically grown crop could be defined when a crop:
1. is not treated with chemical pesticides, herbicides or fungicides
2. is not fertilised with synthetic/chemical fertiliser
3. is not grown in an environment (ie land, water & air)
    which is contaminated with heavy metals, chemicals or any harmful substances
4. is not a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)

When the ALL four criteria are satisfied,
usually a crop could be certified an organic crop

BUT, with that minimal set of criteria,
a crop can still be 'wrongly' defined as an organic crop.

Why? Find out from the next blog :)

Well regards,
Kee Yew



When-is-organic-food-truly-organic




{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

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