Re: Food Quality versus farm certification

From: Steve Diver (steved@NCATARK.UARK.EDU)
Date: Mon Dec 09 2002 - 13:01:47 EST


The question presumes that consumers care about food
quality with subtle differences, or a few extra amino acids
or vitamins or minerals or beneficial phytochemicals.

I don't think that is the situation in USA.

As long as it is solid food stuff and it fills your belly, that
is good enough. Go the fodder feeding troughs of
your local fast food restaurants and observe.

There is an exception. The health conscious people who
go to natural food stores and purchase organic foods at
super markets. These include a broad spectrum of
plain folks, not just organic food eaters from the 60s and
70s.

Well, does it really matter whether the food is organic
or raised by sustainable and eco-farming methods?

Personally, I think it is more important to the human
body that the food is whole rather than processed.

The biggest factors relating to health among different
nations and cultures, from my observation, is whole foods
vs processed foods, and walking culture vs car culture.

That's it. It is very simple. The chemical cocktail of the
American processed food industry is the nine-headed
monster of the 20th and 21st Century.

You see, now, the NOP has defined what is and what
is not organic. Therefore, your local farmer at the farmers
market has ecological food, but it may not be labeled
organic. Yet, it is a fantastic bargain to purchase local food
at your farmers market food from your friends who are
farming ecological.

Nowadays, the awareness that health and food and diet and
excercise are inter-linked and vital to our future is increasing
exponentially across the socio-economic, political, and
religious boundaries.

Phytochemicals and functional foods and neutraceuticals are
a *big* topic among horticulture and food science departments
at universities. At face value, there is a lot of potential benefit
from this trend. Caution should be noted, however, because
some / many of these research programs include biotechnology
efforts that use gene splicing and re-arranging.

Now, organic is an assured source of Non-GMO food.
That is becoming a big selling point.

Organic dairy products are one of your best $$ expenditures.
Toxins accumulate up the food chain and deposit in fat.

Organic meat products and grass-fed meat products are
another great bargain, for the meat eaters.

Organic fruits and vegetables are a great bargain because
the organic label ensures there are no synthetic pesticides
used to raise the crop.

Hopefully, organic produce also has the positive attributtes
of minerals and vitamins and amino acids and vitality.

But an organic label, in itself, does not ensure that.

Eco-farming is the farming system that has the most sophisticated
approach to monitoring crops and food quality. Pike Agri-Lab
Supplies hosts an information sheet on the tissue testing methods
of Bruce Tanio et al, using three hand-held meters: pH, EC, and Brix.
This piece is geared to crop monitoring during the growing season.

Plant Tissue Test Instructions
>From Pike Agri-Lab Supplies, Inc.
http://www.pikeagri.com/tissuetest.html

You can access many resources on the topic of organic
foods in my paper below.

Nutritional Quality of Organically-Grown Food
http://ncatark.uark.edu/~steved/food-quality.html

Regards,
Steve Diver




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