AZ India

F E E L A T H O M E www.azindiatimes.com PAGE - 13 Jan 2019 1-844-AZINDIA Our Food, Our Health, Our Future By Gayathri Pattabhiraman gayathri.krithivas@gmail.com Oh! The choices that abound when we enter a grocery store! All Natural Ingredi- ents, Non GMO Certified, Vegan, Organic, Certified Organic, No additives, the list goes on. Are you like me; spending a good amount of time reading the labels with a magnifying glass and still not getting the A to Z of what’s inside the food we eat and feed our children? With the push to buy local and fresh and the desire to provide the best that mon- ey can buy, compounded with news of an increase in food borne illnesses, consumers have been turning towards organic foods. But does it live up to its hype or is it another fad that took the nation by storm and will fizzle out in a few years? Let us look a little deeper and under- stand the labels we see on our food products. I will delve only into the topic of produce to keep this from becoming a research paper! According to the USDA, organic farming refers to a specific type of agricultural production system used to produce food and fiber. Organic farming techniques prohibit farmers from using synthetic pesticides. All produce, grains, meat, dairy, eggs and fibers must be derived organically. A Certified Organic farm must sub- ject itself to additional inspections by a certified organization in order to post its label as such. Whereas farmers using conventional methods might spray synthetic chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth, organic farmers would, instead, apply natural fertilizers such as manure or compost to feed the soil and the plants. Where the conventional farmer would use insecticides for pest control, the organic farmer would make use of beneficial insects, birds or traps. And where the conventional farmer might use herbicides for weed control, the organic farmer would rotate crops, till the dirt and hand-weed or mulch to manage the weeds. Though many studies (mainly funded by the conventional farming lobby) show there is no significant difference in nutrition between organically produced food and food produced by conventional farming, the studies funded by the other lob- by show opposite results. As a consumer, what then can we do? This brings us to the effect on our environment and the long-term effects of syn- thetic chemicals on our bodies. Conventional farms have been shown to destroy the bio-diversity of the land and cause effluents to leach into the soil and water bod- ies thereby causing poisoning of wildlife and fisheries. Since conventional farming does not employ crop rotation that re- plenishes the nutrients in the soil, the soil loses its bio diver- sity leading to destruction of the natural regeneration pro- cess. Most of the synthetic herbicides and pesticides used today were approved over 60 years ago by the EPA. Science and medicine have since made tremendous strides and we are finding out everyday about the long-term effects of chemicals that were deemed safe. Case in point, Round Up, the most ubiquitous weed killer is now part of a lawsuit where Monsanto was asked to pay $289 million in damages. Ultimately, it comes to the point of whether the consumer is willing to shell out extra from his pockets in order to buy organic food that has been grown in a sus- tainable manner without the use of synthetic chemicals that pose a health risk. It also makes us think about how we are going to leave our planet for the future generations. I for one, follow the rule that anything our family eats raw/uncooked we buy organic. Fruits would fall in that category. We also use the handy list of the Dirty Dozen produce that is best to buy organic as they typically hold the most pesticide residue. According to the FoodSafety magazine, the list of foods with the most pesticide residues, also known as the Dirty (Baker’s) Dozen are: 1. Strawberries 2. Spinach 3. Nectarines 4. Apples 5. Grapes 6. Peaches 7. Cherries 8. Pears 9. Tomatoes 10. Celery 11. Potatoes 12. Sweet bell peppers 13. Hot peppers So, the next time you are at the grocery store eyeing the produce, think about where it came from, how it was grown and what it means to your health and to the environment.