Custom essays on Comparison between organic food and genetically modified food

Nowadays, when the air, water and soil are polluted with human waste and environmental situation despite all efforts of humanity continues to deteriorate, people are beginning to think about their health more and more often. The Chinese proverb says “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you what you are.”
The supporters of a healthy lifestyle and all those who just want to live better, are familiar with the expression “organic food”. But this kind of food is not a new trend and not a modern invention of scientists. In fact, it is a food that has been lost over the lifetime of technological civilizations.
The business of organic-food is booming now. According to the market research of Hartman Group, nearly 70% of Americans buy organic food occasionally, and about 25% buy it every week. The reason for most of people is that we want natural food that is better for us and for the environment, says Samuel Fromartz, the author of Organic, Inc. The problem is that buying organic costs 50 percent more, so is it worth of it? (Canavari. p. 45).
Organic food is products, produced in accordance with certain standards, implying that they were grown without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In Europe, such a standard is “pan-European agreement on cleaner production of agricultural products” that was signed on the 24th of June 1991. To assign the final product status of “green” regulatory authorities inspect all the way “from seed to the countertop”: agricultural land and agricultural practices, planting material, processing, packaging. National certifying organizations check the quality of products. Sign of such an organization on the product label is a reliable guarantee of its quality and environmental cleanliness (Langley. p. 22).
Such an “environmentally clean” product is determined by three parameters: the environmentally-clean raw materials, ingredients and manufacturing process.
Environmentally clean raw materials. Organic farms do not use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. For pest control biological and physical methods are used: natural enemies, noise, ultrasound, light, traps, etc. A lot of agricultural techniques are performed manually, in order not to make harm to plants and soil.
Environmentally clean ingredients. In addition to raw materials, the composition of the product consists of different ingredients, without which the complex production is impossible: filling, stuffing, colorants, preservatives. Environmentally clean ingredients are derived from natural materials, without the use of synthetic elements (for example, grape or apple vinegar is added while canning). In addition to the merits, environmentally clean ingredients have a number of shortcomings: for example, natural dyes are unstable to the effects of temperature, have low intensity and are extremely expensive in manufacturing).
Workflow and technological process. Environmentally clean raw materials are processed by sparing physical methods, saving maximum nutrients. Completely prohibited are the things like: chemical refining, deodorization, hydrogenation, radiation exposure, artificial and synthetic sweeteners, preservatives, flavors, salt content and fortification of products, genetically modified ingredients. For example, the process of production of vegetable oils is as follows: obtaining oil by cold mechanical pressing; packaging oil in dark glass or metal bottles (protection from ultraviolet rays); injection the hydrogen, in order to prevent oxidation.
“Organic” has several rather specific legal definitions in all developed countries of the world. In the US, all products or farms, which claim to be “certified organic”, ought to be approved by USDA-approved independent agency to meet the following guidelines: have sound records about all operations; not to use antibiotics or hormones in livestock; not to use irradiation or genetically modified organisms; use crop rotation practice; no to use prohibited materials 3 years before certification, or during certification.
The USDA explains “prohibited materials” such as sewage sludge, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. One more requirement is that there shouldn’t be any cross-contamination during processing.
As it is written on the site of Organic Food News, that produce grown organically tastes much better than the usual food from supermarket. Such food contains more nutrients and less residual pesticides (Organic Food News). In general we can say that food grown without pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified organisms is organic to some extent.
Supporters of organic food say that organically grown foods are safer include more nutrition elements than foods rose with non-organic methods (antibiotics, pesticides, non-organic fertilizers, and hormones). A lot of people don’t trust such chemicals and don’t wish to put them into their bodies. Because all non-organically produced foods contain kinds of chemicals, that is why the best way to avoid them is to eat organic foods.
In order to be certified as organic, the producers of food should use farms that are certified as organic. It means that they are checked by government officials to be sure these farms are according USDA organic standards. Such inspectors make sure that the environment is without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or other non-organic compounds and that only organic method are used.
The fact that the organic food doesn’t contain pesticides and other dangerous components makes her better for. Even thought some researches show that little amounts of residues of chemical pesticides that are in non-organically grown foods is not really dangerous to the health of people, a lot of people don’t believe in it. Studies show that children who have usual diets have more pesticides in their organisms than children who eat organic food. There are experts who think that such pesticides may possibly lead to problems with normal neurological development. Most people try not to use the antibiotics and hormones of growth which are used on conventionally grown farm animals. The use of antibiotics may be the reason of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.