Organic Foods

The organic food industry is booming. Everywhere you look there’s an organic food option. But navigating the maze of organic food labels, benefits, and claims can be confusing. Is organic food really better for your mental and physical health? Do GMOs and pesticides cause cancer and other diseases? What do all the labels mean? Hopefully this blog will help to answer some of those questions.


Organic vs. Non-Organic

Organic produce:

Conventionally-grown produce:

Grown with natural fertilizers (manure, compost).

Grown with synthetic or chemical fertilizers.


Weeds are controlled with chemical herbicides.

Pests are controlled using natural methods (birds, insects, traps) and naturally-derived pesticides.

Pests are controlled with synthetic pesticides

Organic meat, dairy, eggs:

Conventionally-raised meat, dairy, eggs

Livestock are given all organic, hormone- and GMO-free feed.

Livestock are given growth hormones for faster growth, as well as non-organic, GMO feed.


Antibiotics and medications are used to prevent livestock disease.

Livestock must have access to the outdoors.

Livestock may or may not have access to the outdoors.

Benefits of Organic Food:

How your food is grown or raised can have a major impact on your mental and emotional health as well as the environment. Organic foods often have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their altered counterparts and people with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods.

Here’s a list of some of the pros of eating organic:

Organic produce contains fewer pesticides.


Organic food is often fresher

Because it lacks preservative also organic produce is often (but not always, so watch where it is from) produced on smaller farms near where it is sold.

Organic farming is better for the environment




Organic meat and milk are richer in certain nutrients


Here’s a list of some of the cons of eating organic:

Organic foods are more expensive

Organic food is known for being expensive. Some organic foods cost nearly twice as much as their inorganic counterpart.High demand for organic foods combined with lower yields than conventionally farmed crops creates a recipe for high prices. For many crops, organic yields are lower than those conventionally farmed because they do not use the pesticides non organic farmers use to help more of the harvest make it to market.

No difference in food-borne illness

Outside of antibiotic resistant bacteria in meat, organic food is not inherently safer and has the same risk as nonorganic foods for food-borne bacteria contamination. Fresh produce of all varieties are prone to listeria, E.Coli, salmonella, and other bacteria. Organic food recalls have risen in recent years, but they still only account for less than 10 percent of all food recalls. However, with less organic food produced than non organic foods, the amount of recalls is in line with the total percentage of organic food sold.

Shorter shelf life

Organic fruits and vegetables may spoil faster than conventional produce because they are not treated with waxes or preservatives that keep them on the shelves longer.




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