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| Which Organic Foods Are Worth the Extra Money? |
Submitted by:
Tip Hero 08/30/2008 10:29 AM
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 There seems to be a lot of buzz these days around organic foods. And for good reason: A lot of the foods we buy have been treated with pesticides and chemicals that may not be good for us. But when should we pay the (sometimes) higher prices for organic foods and when should we skip them?
According to Consumer Reports, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s own lab testing reveals that even after washing, some fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticide residue than others.”
So what harm will pesticides and chemicals do to us? It’s not entirely clear at this point, but there are scientists who believe that even small amounts can have adverse effects on people – particularly children. And the long-term effects on humans, young and old, are not fully known.
So if you don’t want to take the risk and consume foods with significant amounts of pesticides and chemicals, you should consider staying away from some foods if they’re not organic.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit organization, analyzed lots of data related to produce pesticide tests that had been collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration and put together a ranking of foods that scored the highest in terms of their “pesticide load”. In other words, the foods that contain the most pesticides rank at the top of the list, making them the worst for you – unless, of course, you buy organic.
Here’s a look at the top 5 non-organic foods:
1. Peaches: Ranked # 1 on the list, meaning they have the highest pesticide load
2. Apples: Close to 94% of the samples tested had some traces of pesticides
3. Sweet Bell Peppers: 64 different pesticides were found on all of the peppers tested combined, with at least one pepper testing positive for 11 different pesticides
4. Celery: Over 80% of the celery samples tested had contained two or more pesticides
5. Nectarines: Over 97% of the samples tested had some traces of pesticides
For the full list of produce analyzed by the EWG, click here.
Men’s Fitness put together their own list of foods that are worth the extra price for organic. In addition to some of the foods listed above, they list:
Peanut Butter: "Chemicals tend to concentrate in oils—one reason residues from up to 28 different pest-killers have been found in p.b."
Microwave Popcorn: "It's the oils that are to blame for the pesky contaminants in popcorn. Newman's Own organic brand costs only a few cents more per bag than Orville Redenbacher's."
And Consumer Reports also suggests staying away from non-organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy, because, "You greatly reduce the risk of exposure to the agent believed to cause mad cow disease and minimize exposure to other potential toxins in nonorganic feed. You also avoid the results of production methods that use daily supplemental hormones and antibiotics, which have been linked to increased antibacterial resistance in humans."
Which foods are not worth the extra money for organic?
Seafood: Because, according to Consumer Reports, fish can be labeled as being organic even if they contain mercury and PCBs.
Milk: According to Men’s Fitness, “contrary to popular belief, all milk—organic or not—is free of antibiotics.”
Yogurt: Yogurt should be fine – it’s the fruit mixed in with it that might have traces of pesticide residue and chemicals.
Olive Oil: “Fewer synthetic chemicals are used in the production of olives than in other conventional crops to begin with”, says Men’s Fitness. “So you're not getting that much bang for your buck if you buy organic.”
The difference in price between organic and non-organic foods varies quite a bit. In some cases, it can be double the price or more (e.g., meat, poultry) and in other cases the markup might be minimal. Prices depend on a number of factors, so comparison shop and be smart about which foods to pay a premium for and which ones aren’t worth the extra money.
To read the full Consumer Reports report, click here.
To read the Men's Fitness article, click here.
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