A Guide to Making Informed Food Decisions

By ARIEL OLSON-SUROWIDJOJO
Observer Staff
Oct. 25, 2007

Natural, organic, non-GMO, locally-grown—these are just some of the buzzwords that indicate how “healthy” our food is. But with a veritable smorgasbord of food choices before us, how do we decide what’s best to put on our plates?

Grocers and food manufacturers are cashing in on recent trends toward healthy and environmentally-friendly eating. Most grocery stores now stock a variety of natural foods, right alongside traditional varieties, allowing customers to choose between organic and locally-grown produce; free-range or hormone-free meats; non-GMO (not genetically modified) and certified organic wheat bread; or grain-fed and cage-free eggs.

But what’s really healthy, and what’s just hype?

Story and editing by Ariel Olson-Surowidjojo
Videography by Arya Surowidjojo

Eating ‘Organic’

Probably the most popular trend in healthy eating is the fad for organic food. The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center’s Web site reports the organics industry, including non-food products, has “grown at a rate of nearly 20 percent per year for the last seven years.”

But is organic food actually healthier for you?

According to Nicole Brown, a registered dietitian in Springfield, Va., there are no proven nutritional benefits to eating organic foods, nor are they more likely to be free of harmful bacteria, such as E.coli. But some populations, such as young children and cancer survivors, may benefit from eating organic foods because they contain lower levels of potentially dangerous pesticides, Brown said.

That’s because organic food is subject to USDA-approved standards for production, handling and processing that limit the use of most pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Farmers also refrain from practices such as ionizing radiation and bioengineering, or genetic modification. Organic animal products—meat, poultry, dairy and eggs—are also free of antibiotics and growth hormones.

“It’s a food safety issue, not a nutrition issue,” Brown said. “I would never say to someone, ‘If it’s not organic, don’t eat it,’ because we’re just not eating enough fruits and vegetables.”

But Brown said, “There are some [organic] foods worth purchasing.” These include fruits, such as apples and peaches, which are more vulnerable to pesticides than other produce that is naturally protected, such as bananas.
However, if you decide to make a complete switch to organic eating, be prepared to pay closer attention to food labels. Not all products bearing the word “organic” on their packaging are comprised entirely of organic ingredients.

According the USDA’s National Organic Program Web site, there are four tiers of organic food, each with it’s own definition. Items labeled ‘100 percent organic’ are required to contain only organically produced ingredients, while ‘certified organic’ products must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients. Only these two types of organic products may display the USDA’s organic seal.

Processed foods that contain at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients are allowed another label, ‘made with organic ingredients,’ and must provide a list of the individual organic ingredients they contain. A product that is less than 70 percent organic may not use the word “organic” anywhere on its packaging, except to describe specific organic ingredients on its ingredients label.

Eating ‘Local’

Organic foods are also commonly produced using sustainable farming practices, like utilizing renewable resources and conserving soil and water. But the choice to eat organic foods may not be as environmentally friendly as it first appears.

“If you were to take the current state of industrial agriculture and convert it all to organic, it would be an improvement,” said Honor Schauland, campaign assistant for the Organic Consumers Association. “But just converting, in a technical, basic sense, to organic doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily better.”

In the United States, produce travels an average of 1,500 miles (4 to 7 days) before it is available at the supermarket, according to Local Harvest, a nationwide online directory of small-scale farms, farmers markets and other locally produced food sources. Those numbers are significantly larger for imported foods.

This reality has spurred a variety of ‘buy local’ movements whose adherents are concerned that the national or international transportation of food cargos is energy-inefficient and contributes to global warming.

“It’s also a matter of supporting the local economy,” Schauland said.

But how far can your food travel and still be considered local?

Whole Foods Market has defined ‘local’ as “only produce that has traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours) from the farm to our facility,” according to its Web site. Others, such as freelance writer Alisa Smith and author James (J.B.) MacKinnon, generated publicity for the ‘local’ movement by advocating a diet consisting only of foods gathered within a 100-mile radius of the consumer’s home.

Organic farmers have taken notice of the ‘local’ trend. Randy Treichler, owner of Star Hollow Farm in Three Springs, Pa., said he now finds more success marketing his farm as “small-scale” or “locally-grown,” even though it’s also certified organic. At his stand in the Adams Morgan Farmer’s Market every Saturday, customers can ask him questions, in person, about the specifics of the food they are purchasing. They find out which tomatoes are sweetest and exactly how they were grown.

“It’s a lot harder to make wise food choices,” Treichler said. “One of the things that I think we offer is that people talk directly to the producer.”

Deciding for Yourself

Like any health consideration, deciding between organic, locally grown or any other variety of food is a matter of personal choice. It requires consumers to consider their dietary restrictions, shopping schedules, concerns for the environment or the local economy and their desire to interact personally with the grower.

Washington resident Annette Richter said she splits her organic shopping between the farmer’s market in Adams Morgan and larger grocery stores.

“I usually do both. In the morning there’s usually more selection here,” Richter said of the Saturday market. “I think the prices are more reasonable than at Safeway or Whole Foods. I also feel healthier.”

But some customers—such as a senior who said she has patronized the market for 24 years, but wished not to be named—cited other reasons for coming to the farmer’s market.

“The main thing is they’re fresher,” she said while picking out stems of fresh spinach. “And they haven’t traveled thousands of miles to get here.”

Schauland said as long shoppers are thinking about where their food comes from, they’re on the right track.

“Try out a whole bunch of different things,” she said. “Try out the farmer’s market, you might be really surprised.” And she continued, “I think it’s learning a different method for getting food. Their needs to be more of a relationship between the people growing and the people eating.”