What should you buy organic?

I buy organic veg/eggs/meat (for DH - I'm a veggie) whenever I can afford (do sympathise with Phoenix re. cost of obtaining organic status - totally excessive charges made by Soil Association at the expense of the producers). However, I always buy organic milk because I find it tastes the same as full-fat regular when I use it in tea and on my cereal.

Some of the farmers here spray with pig muck as a fertiliser, which complicates things. It might be ok if the pigs hadn't been given too many antibiotics. It gets complicated!
They used to use human waste but that's been banned now.

I buy mostly organic veg, around 80%, but since I read that lettuce and cucumbers absorb the highest amount of pesticides and other nasties (something to do with their having a high amount of water), they are always on my 'organic-only'list. Perhaps the more people buy organic fruit & veg., the less expensive they'll become...

Plus one of the best fertilisers is said to be made from pigeon droppings. which evidently was the purpose of all the pigeon houses we see here.

As a retired farmer and former government animal inspector, I just wanted to point out that consumers must not get confused with 'organic' and free range. Organic just means that the animals have been fed only 'organic' feed and have not been treated withuneccesary medicines. All uk milk, not just organic, is tested for antibiotic residues before it leaves the farm. ( think about it - how could the factories make cheese and yogurt if there was antibiotics in the milk which would kill any bacterial 'starter' in the milk). Beef and lamb are tested randomly at the abattoir and also via blood/urine tests unannounced on farm. I know people don't want to injest toxins, so best keep off the fags and alcohol as well...?....enjoy your food, and be thankful you have choices.

Aside from the crucial animal welfare issues, for your own health, the experts tell us that milk is the most important. Non-organic milk is from cows full of antibiotics. They are given to cows as a profilactic, so constantly. Then, in America and elsewhere, cows are often warehoused in barns, leading to stress and therefore stress hormones in their bodies. If they are grazed on fields, they may end up on grass with pesticides. Organic milk is from cows with no antibiotics in their systems. They free graze on pasture that has not seen pesticides for at least 5-years. As a result, there is clover in the grass which is not only good for the cows, but is said to improve the milk. We think it tastes much better than the non-organic stuff.

Organic fruit and veg definitely.Washing the non-organic type does not remove pesticides,etc..And I agree with Stella14 about organic milk-it tastes so much better as well.

My mother a chicken specialist and farmer always said free range eggs were the dirtiest due to them mixing with wild birds. My Dad would say 'deep litter' are the best.

There is a list of twelve recommended fruits and vegetables that should be bought organic otherwise they are the most contaminated with pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers. The list is called the 'Dirty Dozen' (can be looked up on the internet). I stick to that list as much as possible. There is also a list of items that don't need to be organic (bananas, brocolli and some others). I also buy organic milk and eggs and we like to bake our own bread at home using unbleached, un-bromated flour. I have a hard time buying fish because wild fish have mercury contamination and farmed fish are either raised with harmful antibiotics or often under very unsanitary conditions. One also has to be wary of labels.....Farmed Fish can be labeled 'wild' if the roe is harvested from the ocean and then raised in captivity. If I must have, then Flounder or North Atlantic Cod are what I usually go with (least offenders).

I must disagree with Stella 14. This is scaremongering. Non organic milk in Britain is NOT full of antibiotics,B please read my earlier post to see why. . America....I do not know.

Well said Granny1sland - as a former dairy farmer, I too take exception to Stella 14's sweeping generalisation which I'm hoping was a quote rather than a personal belief. As for the taste of any milk - so many people these days drink semi or even totally skimmed milk which in my opinion is just coloured water. No milk, organic or otherwise, tastes better than a cool glass straight from the bulk tank, fat and all!!

I think antibiotics are the biggest danger. The free living pigs we have near us do not get any antibiotics. They don't need them. It is a race which cannot thrive if hearded up together on boards. Prince Charles came here to see them. The farmer who bred them is a friend of his cousin (Phillip's Side)

We hear alot about doctors over prescribing antibiotics as if it were their fault that they don't work anymore. This ia cover up as the main crime is the over dosing of antibiotics in meat and poultrey farming. There are still a few antibiotics which work, which are kept under lock and key for extreme emergencies. Even those are now been criminally used in animal welfare.
A Brave New world and unfortunately the world of our grandchildren.Thats why I think buying organic chicken is better.

I buy organic whenever possible, including sugar and coffee. It doesn't necessarily taste better, but no pesticide use is the main appeal here.

I don't eat meat or dairy, but I buy organic fruit, veg and salad and I think the difference in taste is dramatic. I once ran out of salad and nipped down to the Co-op and bought some non-organic and I thought it tasted dead.

Refusing to give animals can be cruel. How would you like it if someone said you couldn't have antibiotics because it was kinder to let nature take its course in an all-natural way?
Which is not to say that I approve of over-use.
Carrots are the only veg I worry about because Lindane is used to prevent the carrot root fly - a very common pest. It has been linked to breast cancer. (Unless it's been banned? Anyone?)
Anyone who has ever tried to grow a lettuce or similar will know that it is really difficult to do without crawling around on a daily basis squashing slugs, snails and caterpillars.

It's true that bananas have skins to protect them from pesticides, but the workers who grow them are often not protected from some very harsh chemicals. There are a number of sites around that describe the chemicals and conditions but it is summed up at the link below and she gives further links. I only buy organic bananas for that reason. Hope the link comes out properly!

www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/why-i-buy-organic-bananas

I'm learning some very interesting stuff here, thank you all!

I agree about the taste of organic milk. It just has more 'body' to it somehow. I only recently learned that non-organic milk can come from intensively farmed cows which are kept in huge sheds and never go outside.

We visit America almost every year to see our son and I have to say, I think the general quality of the fresh food in the UK is vastly better than theirs. We have a better range of supermarket especially in the mid-range, to choose from, too. My son always spends ages lurking in the UK supermarkets when he visits, for goodies to take back.

It's all about a race to the cheapest in the USA supermarkets. I knew someone once who kept going on and on about missing proper tender US steaks. I was subsequently on a long haul flight and was given some of that super-soft US beef, about as chewy as tender chicken breast, and reflected that their cows get fed on "feed lots" - crowded outdoor pens where they are fed soya and other high nutrient foods along with hormones to make them grow rapidly. They cannot move around very much and are the beef equivalent of battery hens. No wonder the meat is soft and lacking in texture. The EU banned import of beef fed on hormones.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_hormone_controversy

We kill and eat some of our chickens, the cockerels mainly.
The meat is completely different from the bought ones that we also have occasionally. Bought have soft juicy but tasteless flesh, ours is a darker colour, slightly tough but full of flavour.
I've heard that they pump water into the supermarket chickens to plump out the flesh.

JessM Organic farming does not ban giving antibiotics to sick animals, proper veterinary care and medication is part of the organic system, but any animal treated with anti biotics can not go into the food chain for some months after until the antibiotics are completely out of its system.

What is banned is the routine dosing of animals with antibiotics to promote growth or milk output or to protect against disease where animals are kept in crowded conditions. In organic systems, animals will are kept in smaller flocks/with more space/be outdoors so that the fast spread of disease you get in poor conditions does not occur.

Months???? I wonder if that might deter a farmer from calling the vet.

Organic Garlic for some reason tastes better than the other to me. It's the only organic thing i buy.

Generally organically reared animals require less veterinary care and fewer antibiotics than under conventional farming methods. You cannot send diseased animals to market so it is better to get it treated and to market a month or two later.

I was once told/ head that if you are going to buy anything organic make sure it's milk! However I do buy other organic meat and vegetables when I can. The best tasting fruit and vegetables are of course those that you grow yourself!

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