Organic Foods: Is it worth the switch?

Are organic foods worth the extra money?

Have you ever been to a store, and just as you reach the produce sector you are faced with a choice between organic or regular?

You are then instantly hit with dozens of questions like is this one tastier? Is this one soaked in pesticides? Oh well, that means it's unhealthy right?

Ethical issues constantly influence our consumer behavior, but the question is, are organic foods worth the extra money?

If you want more nutrient you eat more vegtables, doesn't matter if its organic or not.

The ethical food market has grown rapidly over the years and in 2015 it was valued at around £5 billion. One of the reasons for this could be the price of organic foods. According to a Consumer Report Analysis, it found that organic foods were 47% higher in price than their conventional counterpart. In a way the term “organic” has now just become another synonym for “luxury” and that consumers are willing to pay more for the label without knowing what it means. I asked my mum and said that “ people are believing that these foods are better but they don’t the difference.”

Another misconception is that organic foods are better for the environment. Yes, pesticides and fertilizers can have negative impacts such as polluting natural waterways and affecting natural polluters. However, a study was done in 2010 and found that some organic pesticides did more harm to the environment than the ones commonly used. The University of Guelph found that larger doses of natural pesticides were needed to kill pests and to make things worse, they are also more likely to kill insect predators such as ladybugs and flower bugs. This is terrible as insect predators are important regulators of aphid population and growth

Even the additional nutritional benefits from organic produce are very slim. There’ve been countless meta-analysis studies examining the macro and micronutrient content of the two however the bottom line is that both are similar for vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates. If you want more nutrient you eat more vegtables, doesn't matter if its organic or not.

Organic farms do not treat their workers any better. With the markup on organic foods being 29%-32% it is inevitable for workers to be exploited. Richard Mandelbaum said “The exploitative conditions that farmworker face are Abysmal- it’s a human rights crisis” and that he followed up by saying that “In terms of wages and labour rights, there’s no difference between organic and conventional.”