Organic : What is it and does it matter?

I saw this secret on one of my favourite blogs PostSecret a few weeks back ( www.postsecret.com ) . If you don't know what PostSecret is, it's an art project run by a man named Frank Warren. Frank encourages people to send him their secrets on a custom postcard, and he then uploads his favourite 'Sunday Secrets' each week. This secret caught my eye:

PostSecret Organic Secret

"My family thinks I only buy organic produce... but sometimes I just put "organic" stickers on the packages..."

So this got me thinking, why does organic produce matter to society so much, and how many people truly know the meaning of organic ? Do people buy organic because they care about the product, or because they care about the message it sends to others around them ?

I consider myself to be a fairly informed shopper, but I will just put my hand up in the air and admit that I sometimes buy organic just because I see the word. It just catches my eye and I automatically purchase it over other items on the shelf. I haven't really noticed myself doing this until I saw this secret and had a look in the fridge.

The tendency to buy anything with "organic" on it is really just smart marketing. Buzz words are everywhere if you look for them ; most of the time we see marketing we only take in the bits of information we want to know. Example : If you're buying a TV you want to know how big the screen is, if it's HD ready, can you plug a PS3 into it. The same applies for food, you want to know if it's healthy so they put the  "traffic light" information on the front, and some persuasive buzz words like "organic" or "0% horse". 

The food industry is competitive, an example of really smart business. Credit due where credit is due, the marketing in the food industry is undeniably second to none; smart business is smart business, but, where there's smart business, you need to make smart choices. Like most good things, there's a limit to how far a concept can be applied. For example,  a lot of people cite health reasons for purchasing organic food, but does it really make a difference whether your ice cream cone is organic?. Organic started as, and is still largely, a positive food movement, but have we really reduced such an initiative into something so basic as a marketing tool?

If you have seen the documentary Food Inc (side-note: if you haven't, I recommend you do!) then you might want to check out "In Organic We Trust" (http://www.inorganicwetrust.org).  I have yet to see it for myself (thanks coursework!) but to me it looks like it could be really good.  You can check out the trailer here :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7D53z_Gqo  and you can purchase the film from iTunes. One thing I would say though, is to do your own research around the topic. Don't take the film as gospel because, though eye opening, it is based around American food which has an infrastructure and governing body very different to that of Europe.

So, what does "organic" mean in the UK?  Organic standards are governed and laid down by EU law. They cover a range of things from animal welfare to the presence of GM in produce. If you want to have a read around I suggest you check out the website here: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/home_en. DEFRA is also a very good source of information :http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/growing/organic/standards/index.htm , they have a statistical report which summarises just how much organic food etc. is produced in the UK : http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/files/defra-stats-foodfarm-environ-organics-statsnotice-120605.pdf

There's actually currently a campaign to try and get more Europeans interested in the meaning of Organic. You can find that here: https://www.facebook.com/organicuk. I think it's a pretty good initiative, and I like that its not a stagnant, black and white campaign:

                     

I also really like that the campaign is focusing on social media, the power of which should never be underestimated! I wish there was more publicity surrounding this though... maybe I missed it all but until I started writing this post I didn't know anything about it!  Another useful website for reference is http://www.organicukfood.com . 

In the UK your organic food will either meet EU standards, or those of the Soil Association. They both mean similar things, so look out for their logos! 

The Soil Association ( http://www.soilassociation.org/whatisorganic) is the oldest certifier of organic in the UK, certifying around 80% of UK organic produce. Policies cover animal welfare, conservation and GM. I am a fan of the soil association, as conservation and sustainability are particular areas of interest to me. 

The EU logo is on the right. You can find links to EU standards earlier on in this post.

So, to conclude, there's a lot to be said for organic- more than I could possibly put in this blog post. The concept as a whole is great. We should demand high standards of welfare and production (horse meat anyone?), but is there such thing as too much of a good thing? Just as we should celebrate buying organic, we shouldn't put social pressure on those who chose not to. Food is a really personal thing, and each person has their own right to chose what they eat. To judge someone else on their food choices is as blind as buying organic without knowing what it means.

My main point really is to educate yourself (and I include myself in that! ). Food is smart business, with smart marketing,  so we owe it to ourselves to make informed choices. You don't need to be an encyclopedia organica, it just pays to know a little about what you're buying (or not buying) and why. Consumer purchasing power is huge and something to be used wisely. If you're super interested in organic, there's actually a whole online totally organic supermarket : http://www.planetorganic.com. 

I'm going to try and consider my food choices more from now on, and try not to be such a sucker for good marketing! 

What do you think to "organic" ? Have we lost sense of what it means ? Do you buy it or do you not? Let me know! @MynameisElie

Peace, love and mud,

Bunny

xxx

Thoughts On The Horse Meat Scandal

With horse meat dominating the headlines, now seemed like an appropriate time to kick off my blog. I have had a few questions on twitter (www.twitter.com/MynameisElie) about the horse meat scandal.

If you don't know what I am talking about then where have you been hiding?! To cut a long story short, many UK beef products have been contaminated with horse meat. It's a current story so the facts are ever changing, but The Guardian has a pretty conclusive FAQ round up: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/15/horsemeat-scandal-the-essential-guide

The BBC is very good too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21457188

So for those that have asked, and also I guess for those who haven't but who have somehow ended up on this page, here are my musings on the horse meat scandal....

I'm not going to go into too much detail about business strategies and farming politics because it would be foolish for me to comment upon a subject in which I am not educated enough to make accurate or valuable contribution. I will say though, that the level of consumer betrayal committed by the companies implicated in the scandal, contradicts any spirit or morals I have ever seen or felt in the farming community. Never once have I met a farmer who was more interested in making a quick buck, than the quality of his produce. The UK has a strong, proud agricultural history and stories such as the horse meat scandal tar many good people with a bad brush.

Following on from that idea, now seems like an opportune moment to mention the importance of buying a -British and b- local produce. When looking to buy British, look for the Red Tractor Stamp . This indicated that the meat has been produced under some of the highest hygiene, welfare and quality standards in the EU.(http://www.redtractor.org.uk/home). The NFU has just launched a major campaign highlighting the stamp (http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/15/02/2013/137668/campaign-aims-to-counter-horsemeat-headlines.htm). I hope it goes some way to counteracting the poor publicity the agricultural industry is battling right now!

I do wonder how many people are aware of the Red Tractor stamp. It seems like consumer education might be something to look at. It is very easy to forget that the meat you see on supermarket shelves started life in a field somewhere. Save for a few hanging pictures of grazing cows and the astro-turf fake grass sometimes put behind the butchers counter, supermarkets detach us from the farming process. Shrink-wrapped and priced up, we forget that someone, somewhere, spent hours producing that beef/pork/lamb. There is no such thing as magic food produced from nothing but thin air and fairy dust,  whatever you're eating, you can always thank a farmer!


I wish I had some sort of valuable and philosophical insight into the whole thing, but it just seems like there is a remarkably simple antidote : education on food standards, and an increased consumer loyalty to British and local produce. I'm not saying we should make little children visit slaughter houses for their annual year 4 school trip, not am I advocating a permanent national boycott of supermarkets. I am simply advocating that people use this scandal to have a little look around and see what else is out there. It's the weekend, so go out and explore your local area. Let me know what you find!

Peace, love and mud,

Bunny
xxx



P.S I know I shouldn't laugh... but...