Expert Criticism: Organic Food Superstition

For ordinary vegetables, five or six kilos or one catty, organic vegetables are twice as expensive or even several times more expensive. Despite this, more and more people regard organic food as a solution to food safety in this era of “what they are not sure about eating anything”. The “ultimate way out” of the problem; many people think “expensive” as “good” and think that organic food is more nutritious – are these ideas correct? In a recent popular science lecture, Ma Zhiying, deputy director and chief engineer of the Shanghai Food Research Institute, “splashed with cold water”: People have nothing but three expectations for food: safety, nutrition, and taste, but in 2009, the British Food Standards Agency released A study concluded that "organic products and conventional products do not differ in nutrition."

The original intention of organic cultivation is to protect the environment

Organic foods require that no chemicals, such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, be used at all in agricultural production, and genetic control technology should not be used. It also has requirements for soil and water resources. Compared with "green food" and "non-pollution food," the requirements are the most stringent.

It is reasonable to say that agricultural production is the responsibility of the agricultural sector, but "organic food" was proposed by the national environmental protection department in 1994. "The original intention of mankind planting organic foods is not to obtain better foods. This is part of a person's willingness to abandon modern agriculture in order to protect the environment and return to ancient planting methods." Professor Li Shuguang, Nutrition Expert, School of Public Health, Fudan University Explanation.

Do you not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides? Is it better to grow crops? Not necessarily, the British have already studied the conclusions.

There are also problems with the taste. Li Shuguang said that many organic crop farms deliver yellow vegetables, thin fruits, and wormholes. Some buyers who eat these fruits feel less tasteful, not better.

A test on apple taste in 2001 stated that organic apples are "more sweet and firmer." However, Li Shuguang believes that this result cannot exclude the psychological factors of the testee. Taste perception depends to a large extent on people's psychology and it will deviate from the results of indicator analysis.

Natural is not necessarily safer

One very important reason why people support organic food is to think it safe. It does not use pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and additives to protect it from chemical pollution. However, people seem to have forgotten that crops grown according to traditional methods may also be contaminated.

In organic agriculture, manure is used to replace fertilizers to nourish crops. E. coli and the like in manure are likely to be retained, particularly in low crops such as watermelon, lettuce, tomatoes, and spinach. As far as food additives are concerned today, in fact, as long as they are used in a standard manner, they are not only harmless, but in some cases they are even beneficial to food safety, such as preserved meat, irradiated spices, and sterilized vegetables. What needs to be reminded is that many people are "too reassuring" about organic foods and carelessly cleaning them, which increases the probability of infecting bacteria.

“More and more people are superstitious about what is natural and what people have dealt with. This is a bit biased,” said Li Shuguang.

Is it really organic?

Why is the original intention of "protecting the environment" of organic agriculture, so that most people think it is for the "protection of people" born? The business’s rhetoric. Seize the people's concerns about food safety issues, advocate the organic health of foods, and intentionally or unintentionally hide the shortcomings of traditional agricultural production methods, it is the marketing means of the business.

The organic food bought for a big price is worth the money, and consumers are not sure whether or not they can even buy real organic food. They also have no idea. The only thing that can depend on it seems to be the conscience of growers. ". “Especially when the number of people ordered is increased, it is a problem whether the farm can insist on organic production for the sake of profit.” Li Shuguang said.

Harsh planting standards restrict the large-scale commercialization of organic foods. Zhang Tonggui, the founder of Doli Farm, a well-known organic agricultural product supplier in Shanghai, said: “To build a real organic farm, it takes more than three years to treat the soil and water...” China uses 1.3 million tons of pesticides each year, and more than 80% penetrate into the country. Soil and water, if grown organically only, without prior treatment of soil and water, are unlikely to meet organic standards.

Li Shuguang believes that the organic value of organic agriculture is "protecting the natural environment" rather than "guaranteeing food safety." Can organic foods be used as the "final outlet" to solve food safety problems? I'm afraid it can't do it.