Tuesday Tidbits: A little organic knowledge

Here’s another indicator of how dumb I am. Up until about a year ago, I would never choose produce labeled “organic” over the normal, everyday produce. Well, one time I did buy some organic bananas because they were still green and all the other ones were too yellow. And I was pissed about having to do it. Because organic costs more – and I just couldn’t see why it was worth spending the extra money.

Forgive me. I did not know.

If I gave it any thought at all, which was rare, I thought it just meant the produce was grown without artificial pesticides or fertilizers. As someone who is old and set in her ways, that just didn’t strike me as such a big deal. But then I learned more.

I learned milk, meat, poultry and eggs are designated as organic if they are not treated with hormones, given to make the animals larger, or antibiotics, which are dispensed to keep them disease-free. This I found to be especially disgusting.

I learned food cannot be labeled organic if it has been genetically altered or irradiated. I further learned that irradiation means the food has been processed with radiation to kill germs.

I learned organic food regulations prohibit hydrogenated fat, phosphoric acid, preservatives, colorings, hormones, antibiotics, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and 7000 other artificial flavorings that are permitted in conventional food. Yikes. That’s kind of scary.

But now I take these things into consideration when I am in the grocery store and start to think I don’t want to spend the extra couple of dollars. Because now I know. And in the words of my old friend, GI Joe - knowing is half the battle.

Oh, one more thing: Did you know all grocers are legally required to stack organic fruits and vegetables where they won’t be exposed to water runoff from the misting of conventional produce? Sitting there could contaminate organic items with pesticide residue. If a store is not following that rule, you may be wasting your money by buying organic produce there.