The world today is turning a lot more health concious, but does that necessarly mean that it is worth paying the extra bucks for food that is organic? Organic food is food that has not been treated with pesticides and fertilizers. Antibiotics, growth hormones, and feed made from animal parts are also banned. There are shoppers today that will pay 10%, 20%, sometimes even 100% more for organic food. The organic food sales hit $10 billion in 2003, up from $178 million in 1980. Because of the current hipe with natural foods, grocery stores are starting to stock a lot more of these type of goods. I guess demand has increased the supply, more so in our regular grocery stores.
So is organic worth the extra money? Research has yet to prove an adverse health effect from consuming the low levels of pesticides commonly found in U.S. food. But for the most vulnerable groups -- children and pregnant women -- going organic whenever possible for fruits and vegetables that carry the heaviest pesticide load makes sense.
Granted, foods that are not treated with such things as pesticides are going to be more healthy, but are they worth the extra costs associated with it?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_36/b3898129_mz070.htm
2 comments:
I think that it pays to buy organic if that is what you feel most comfortable buying. I personally feel more satisfied buying certain foods that are organic, such as produce, because reguardless of what it does to me in the long-run, I think the quality and flavor is often better. It is very difficult to make a decent marinara using typical grocery store tomatoes, trust me.
-2 on Stockton's post for a poorly formatted link and a spelling error.
Organic produce is a good example of how marginal costs determine supply. Organic produce costs more because it costs more to produce - there is more waste because more of the product falls prey to disease or animals. So, organic produce has a supply that is shifted to the left leading to higher prices, and lower consumption.
Jacques: are you going to bring some marinara sauce for show-and-tell some day? ;)>
Post a Comment