Geezer

Anyone watch Horizon last night?

It was most interesting (but not unexpected) what they said about organic and superfoods.

Basically, they said that organic food gave

a) no nutritional benefits
b) was no better for the animals
c) didn't necessarily taste any better (with some exceptions)
d) offered no benefits with regards to pesticides.

My cousins wifr has worked for the local Health AUthority for years, and has always gone on about how study after study has shown no benefits and how you should save your money.

The Food Standards Agency found exactly the same, and you would think that the govt. would come out in favour of organic as the revenue they would receive be more simly due to VAT on higher priced food.

Not even they could find a reason.

It seems now that the public will fall for any old tosh that greens see fit to peddle out!

Geezer

Steve vRS

The generally sheep like public like pseudoscience or marketing in place of proof and risk assessed cost benefit analysis.

These was something in the newspaper a while back saying that in the present climate if aspirin were invented now, it would never be allowed on sale due to it's side effects. the fact that it is a "wonder" drug would not matter!

Steve

Shark Man

It doesn't suprise me - when there is no obvious set standards on "how" exactly that food can be considered "organic", other than the basics. And given the mass production used, no explaination on the mass increase in price to justify it...other than to make more profit

Leslie

But did they say that the pesticides and sprays used on non organic foods will definitely not harm humans in the longer term?

Les

PeteBrant

Surely that's entirely subjective - Personally i find that organic stuff, or stuff out of my Mums garden, tastes about 3,247 times better that mass produced stuff.

vindaloo

Smallest distance/time between producer and consumer. That's probably the key to it. It's properly fresh!

Steve vRS

I find home grown tomatoes taste better than bought ones. Especially when they have been sprayed with insecticides and grown in a nitrate rich fertiliser!

Steve

PeteBrant

That's undoubatbly a factor but of course what they are grown in and what is sprayed on them is going to have an impact.

OllyK

Organic doesn't mean pesticide and spray free, it just means they have to use ones from an approved list. They no doubt didn't cover if these have long term effects on humans either.

We grow most of own veg, we wouldn't get an organic certificate but we know what goes on them and they taste better than you get from the supermarket.

Geezer

That's why I said necessarily Pete. I reckon that battery farmed Hens may not taste as good as some others, but is it due to the fact that it's organic, or what they are fed?

They had tomatoes on the prog that were farmed in a huge greenhouse using a mixture of water and various chemicals, and they were superb. They fed them exactly what they needed under controlled conditions.

They said that the pesticides were only present in trace amounts that were not harmful to humans. I would imagine you can find trace elements of all sorts of rubbish in anything, simply because it gets into the ground water.

I know plenty of people who smoke, but are worried about the tiny amount of stuff - that has been passed for safe use by various agencies - in non-organic food

They also went to interview the people who make Innocent Smoothies, and they were claiming all sorts of stuff. She asked them pointedly to show her the science that backed up their claims and they had to admit there was none. It then went on to say that they had been made to withdraw an ad claiming such stuff because there was nothing behind there claims whatsoever.

Geezer

edited to add: The tests were carried out by an independent lab.

boomer

'fraid that i switched off after 20 minutes, as it was turning out to be a version of "Top of the Pops" including Robert Palmer girls in lipstick and white coats strutting around for the camera.

And as for the "expert" woman - gosh what an ego trip she was having. I bet that every scene had to be shot umpteen times so that she could come across in the most patronising way.

After a few good programmes, it seems as though horizon is dumbing down yet again

mb

Diesel

Organic labels on meat usually equal a more humane and 'cleaner' product (no growth hormone/ routine antibiotics/likely to have been outdoors the once), so I prefer it. When it applies to overpriced Cucumbers that you can rinse I am much more cynical and think 'marketing/PR'.

D

Leslie

Yes ok Olly. I am not an expert on this sort of thing, but I do know that some of the pesticides used are pretty poisonous to humans and even if we only eat them in small residual amounts, can anyone say that we will not come to some harm over a long period of time. Saying that "we shouldn't do" is not really good enough is it?

Home grown veg is bound to taste better since it won't have been "forced" like the commercial version.

Les