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How can you tell if food labeled “organic” REALLY IS organic? The US has already lowered its standards for organic foods.

In LiveScience.com, Christopher Wanjek writes that scientists in Spain are developing methods to detect food that has been grown with synthetic fertilizers. This is especially important now that they are part of the European Union, which has strict rules on exported food. Their method uses the detection of an isotope of nitrogen that is found only in organic food.
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We reported over 4 years ago that organic food actually IS healthier to eat. Now a 10-year-study reaffirms that this is true.

In New Scientist, Duncan Graham-Rowe reports that the heart-helping compounds called favonoids are 79 to 97% higher in organic tomatoes. Researcher Alyson Mitchell says this difference is probably explained by the fact that regular, non-organic, crops are overfertilized, with too much nitrogen, because flavonoids are caused by a defense mechanism that is triggered when the plant does not get enough nutrients.

Make sure you know the SECRET of how to identify organic fruits and vegetables!

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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Congress has amended the Organic Food Production act to allow food additives and processing aids such as chemical stabilizers in organic foods, without public review. It has also granted organic food producers the right to continue antibiotic treatment and genetically engineered feeding of young cows prior to their entering organic production, and the emergency substitution of non-organic ingredients for organic ingredients without the public being informed.

The amendment was strongly backed by the Organic Trade Association and opposed by the Organic Consumer’s Organization. It leaves the United States with the weakest organic food production standards in the developed world.
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Most people like organic vegetables because they’re worried about pesticides and genetically-modified crops or they think they taste better. Now it’s been discovered that organics contain more healthy compounds than regular crops. Tests comparing organic and non-organic berries and corn show organics contain up to 58% more polyphenolics, which are compounds that act as antioxidants and may protect against heart disease and cancer.

“This really opens the door to more research in this area,” says researcher Alyson Mitchell. Her team found that organic blackberries contain 50 to 58% more polyphenolics than regular crops from neighboring fields. Organic strawberries have 19% more polyphenolics. Organics also have more ascorbic acid, which the body converts to vitamin C. read more