Update 1: Little Green

What is "organic food"?

"Organic food" usually refers to food produced in accordance with organic standards from production, treatment, processing to sales, and certified in writing by a certification institution or the administrative department of the institution in the country of origin.

What is the organic food standard?

Organic standards include:

In planting, chemical pesticides and fertilizers should be avoided, but crop rotation, animal and plant composting, local artificial weeding and biological methods should be adopted to control pests and rats;

Avoid using antibiotics, growth hormones and other animal feed additives when raising animals;

Gene transformation technology and ionizing radiation method are not used.

Who will set the organic standards?

Codex Alimentarius Commission has formulated guidelines for the production, processing, labeling and sale of organic food. In addition, some international organizations and countries have formulated similar guidelines according to their own conditions.

What are the benefits of organic agriculture?

Organic farming promotes and strengthens ecosystem health, soil biological activity and soil fertility. Advocate organic agriculture, advocate the use of renewable and recyclable resources, advocate energy conservation, soil and water conservation.

How to identify "organic food"?

The label of organic food usually indicates that the food has been certified as "organic food" by a certification body, organization or agency management authority. Vegetables are the main organic foods produced in Hong Kong, but some processed organic foods, such as dried beans, soybean milk, cereal breakfast, biscuits and organic animal products, such as eggs, can be imported from overseas and sold in the local market.

How to compare organic food with general food?

We can compare organic food with ordinary food from the following three aspects:

Chemical risk

Avoiding the use of chemical pesticides and veterinary drugs in organic farming can reduce the residual content of chemical substances in organic food;

Avoid using fungicides in organic farming, which may lead to mold growth in crops and then produce mycotoxins; However, there is not enough evidence to prove that the use of fungicides can reduce mycotoxins produced by molds in crop manufacturing.

Microbial risk

Using fertilizers without proper treatment in organic farming may pollute food and nearby water sources with pathogenic bacteria; However, the current evidence is not enough to prove that the risk of pathogen transfer brought by organic farming is much higher than that of general farming.

nutritional ingredient

The nutrients of organic food, including vitamins or minerals, are basically the same as those of general food; At present, there is no definite scientific evidence that organic food contains more vitamins or minerals than ordinary food.

Therefore, the difference between organic food and general food mainly lies in its production, processing and treatment methods.

Advice to consumers:

From the point of view of nutrition, there is no obvious difference between foods produced by organic methods and ordinary methods. However, the most important thing is to maintain a balanced diet and eat different kinds of food, including fruits, vegetables, cereals, meat and milk, in order to absorb the nutrients needed to maintain health.

Just like buying ordinary food, when buying organic food, consumers should not buy food that looks stale, moldy or wrinkled and shows signs of withering. Vegetables should be thoroughly washed and cooked before eating, so as to reduce the possible risks of chemical residues and germs in vegetables.

Organic melons and fruits have no chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, so the growth period will be longer, the damage rate of pests will be high, and the cost will also increase. Although the price is high, organic food is always good for your health. Less illness and less pain can naturally save you a lot of money.

Organic food is not necessarily better?

(First published in Scarecrow,No. 18, autumn 2002)

This is the title of the international focus edition of Ming Pao on August 8, 2000. This paper reports the questioning of organic agriculture by * * * "20/20" current affairs program, and the reaction of some groups.

This "20/20" special report was broadcast as early as February this year, and several groups have responded online. I always thought it was just a small matter, and the dust settled. However, five months later, the report was replayed again, which caused opposition from the organization and media reports in China and Hongkong. Many of my friends also call or email to ask.

Organic food is not necessarily better?

In fact, in addition to 20/20 reports, it seems that in the past six months, there have been more and more international reports that are unfavorable to organic agriculture, mainly including the following points:

Organic vegetables are more likely to contain pathogenic bacteria because they use animal manure as fertilizer.

Generally, the pesticide residues contained in vegetables are exaggerated, but in fact there are few or no pesticide residues.

There is no evidence that organic food is more nutritious than ordinary food.

Organic agriculture is inefficient, so it takes up more cultivated land to produce crops with the same yield, so it can't be said that it is better for the environment.

In fact, the above arguments are not new, but some reports this time are supported by experimental data. However, many organizations have responded to the above questions, and the author tries to summarize them as follows:

Some people doubt the accuracy of this report. For example, what was first found on organic mushrooms was actually just common Escherichia coli, not the deadly O 157:H7 originally reported. Or the agency responsible for testing is mentioned in the report, indicating that no testing has been carried out at all. Or the general detection of Escherichia coli, it can not be inferred that there is a lethal O 157:H7 in the sample.

It is not only organic farms that use animal manure as fertilizer, but also ordinary farms. 1999, British farms used 90 million tons of animal manure, of which only 1% was used by organic farms. Because organic farms have production standards, standardized animal manure must be piled until it is cooked, but ordinary farms don't, so it is more prone to problems. In fact, according to the official data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, none of O 157:H7 is related to organic food.

Regarding the problem of pesticide residues, according to the detection of different official organizations and non-governmental organizations in the United States, it is shown that general vegetables contain pesticide residues, such as 16 pesticides found in 53% of lettuce and 12 pesticides found in 90% of celery, etc., so it is difficult to detect the difference of pesticides between organic vegetables and general vegetables. In addition, there are more and more data showing the impact of pesticides on human body, especially on farmers, such as the impact on nervous system and possibly related to breast cancer.

About the nutritional value of organic products, there should probably be more experiments to do more in-depth research. But some recent studies show that organic food does contain more nutrients. For example, a study by the University of Copenhagen found that foods grown without artificial fertilizers contain more secondary metabolites that can fight cancer. In addition, Rutgers University in new york also found that the important trace elements contained in organic products are several times higher than those in general products.

In addition, the abuse of antibiotics in raising animals has also been accused by medical personnel in many countries, which is an important threat to human health.

As for the yield, more research is needed to confirm the long-term yield difference between organic agricultural system and general agricultural system. However, according to the research of the University of Essex in England, organic farming can keep pace with general farming methods in yield and will not affect the environment. Another 15-year study by Rodale Institute in the United States found that the output of organic agricultural system after four years was almost the same as that of the general one, and it was better in dry weather. And pesticides are not a guarantee of harvest. Professor Cornell University found that from 1945 to 1989, the use of pesticides in the United States increased by 10 times, but the crop loss caused by insects increased from 7% to 13%.

In addition, many experts pointed out that human beings are not short of food at present, but are unevenly distributed. To solve the food problem, we should not start with increasing production, but with poverty alleviation and social reform. At the same time, aid agencies in many developing countries think that organic farming systems are more suitable for them, because they can make full use of local resources instead of buying expensive chemical pesticides and fertilizers with dollars.

As for the benefits of organic agriculture to the ecological environment, even the British Minister of Agriculture admits that organic farming is more beneficial to the environment than the general farming system in maintaining biodiversity.

I hope the above response can reassure all parties concerned about organic agriculture. In fact, this kind of questioning also has a good side to the development of organic agriculture, which is to let the public know more about organic agriculture. However, a strong response must be supported by a large amount of data. When organic food accounts for an important proportion of our grain, society should also invest the same proportion of resources in the scientific research and development of organic agriculture. Let us understand the local situation with the support of scientific research results corresponding to the local situation. , & ampquot Little Green &; Quot all food is. ,