"6 Myths About Organic Food"

Yesterday Elliott took something that looked like a wrinkly potato out the fridge and asked me what it was. It was an organic mango I had bought at Whole Foods, no doubt spending extra for organic. Why did it look like a potato? Because all of the times I've bought organic mangoes, they're always rock hard when I get them, then I wait for them to ripen, and then they turn a little brown, and I think "crap-- I waited to long; I'll carve around the bad parts." And when I cut them open, they're rock hard and unripe, YET rotting. Somehow. Doesn't happen with un-organic mangos... just sayin'...

So this article on MSN caught my eye. Here's a summary of the "myths about organic food" and the evidence:

MYTH #1: ORGANIC FOOD IS ALWAYS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.
...modern high-yield farming has saved 15 million square miles of wildlife habitat, and that if the world switched to organic farming, we'd need to cut down 10 million square miles of forest. Less-productive farming could also lead to even less food for the world's undernourished.


MYTH #2: IT'S MORE NUTRITIOUS.
...Studies keep flip-flopping on this...what makes the biggest difference in nutrients is how long produce sits on the shelf. Spinach, for instance, loses about half of its folate within a week.

MYTH #3: IT TASTES BETTER.
Nobody has been able to tell the difference except in one study of apples, where organics came out ahead....Nothing is at its best when it's flown halfway around the world and waxed, then has to spend a week in the grocery store.

MYTH #4: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AS CAREFUL ABOUT WASHING IT.
All produce, whether purchased from a grocery megachain or your local organic farm, is susceptible to nasty bacteria.

MYTH #5: YOU'RE SUPPORTING SMALL FARMS OR ECO-COMPANIES.
General Mills owns the Cascadian Farms brand, Kraft owns Back to Nature and Boca Burger, and Kellogg's owns Morningstar Farms, to name a few conglomerates basking in organics' glow (and dough). And with such high demand (in the past year, the market for organic milk outstripped the supply by 10 percent), these giant companies are importing organic ingredients as cheaply as possible — often from other countries. Whole Foods sold roughly $1 billion in produce last year; only about 16 percent was locally grown. So with all the CO2 spent in transport, some organics have questionable eco-virtues. [this part makes me doubt the author's knowledge because Morningstar Farm and Boca are big on "veggie," NOT "organic" food, so I fail to see the relevance to the article]

MYTH #6: IT'S BETTER FOR YOU.
Not if it's organic chips, organic soda, or organic cookies. Cane sugar is still sugar and fried chips are still fried, no matter what kind of compost was or wasn't heaped onto the potatoes. Sorry!