Organic food

With organic food becoming part of the mainstream I have noticed more and more media coverage of issues surrounding organics. I am a buyer of many organic products. Obviously I am concerned about environmental issues but I also find they have less additives and they taste better. I buy food to eat it and taste is pretty important. I don't buy food to make myself feel like I'm saving the planet by the purchases I make. I believe that our industrial model of food production is not the best model for long-term sustainability but I also understand the role it plays in producing enough for the population. It is a trade off like almost anything else. There are couple of things I have noticed recently about organic foods. I posted a while back about this trade off and will not rehash that. However, there has been a recent study at the University of Alberta by Sean B. Cash about the footprint left by organic produce during transportation to other markets. I will be reading some of his other research as the titles sound quite interesting. I haven't been able to find the specific article but his interview with CBC raises a few important points about your food. Find out where it comes from and a label on it doesn't mean everything. I find food labels like fair trade or organic are like the blue box: you throw in your can, feel like you've done your bit and move on. These labels, while valuable, are creating an easy way to "contribute" or be part of the solution without any thought on the part of the consumer. Isn't mindless consumption what drove us to this point?

Another study coming from York University outlines how the organic food label has become, according to Irena Knezevic, "a marketing tool more so than an assurance of quality, let alone an assurance of a fair and sustainable production process." An article in the Globe and Mail with the title "Has big business turned organics into 'yuppy chow'?" says it all.

How will consumers reconcile their desire to do some good and eat well with corporate takeovers of the organic market? Are these labels going to make a difference or will we simply be buying our way out of guilt? Time will tell. I know I have to look in my fridge and pantry and find out what I'm really buying.