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:
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| 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
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