The Opposite of What He Was Going For

So I was reading this article about Nestle's Chairman of the Board attacking organic food (Here's Why Nestle Chairman's Attacks On Organic Food Are Wrong), and my first thought was to wonder why a processed food company would feel the need to attack organic food. As the article mentions their profits tripled from 2009 to 2010... so they don't seem to be hurting. All I can come up with is that they're doing pre-emptive threat management. 


After getting past that notion I wanted to know what the actual arguments were. One was that "From a nutritional point of view studies show no nutritional difference from bio [or organic] to other food." It's been a bit since I read those studies but I'm pretty sure they were comparing organic produce to conventional produce... not to Haagen-Dazs. Regardless, people who condemn organic food based on those studies are missing the point. Organic food is not about giving you something extra, it's about not giving you something–namely chemicals to ingest. 

image from Scott Bauer via Wikimedia Commons

Now lately I've been all about touting how you don't have to buy all your produce organic. Organics are often more expensive than conventional so knowing which items have exteriors that protect the part you eat from pesticides/hormones/antibiotics can save you some money. This article reminded me, though, that there are environmental benefits to buying organics as well. (You can read the article with the link near the top of the post to find out what some of those are.) I'd put those on the back burner of my brain. 


I'll try to keep them more at the forefront now and do the whole voting with my dollars thing. Remember when you buy in season, produce is also cheaper. Next time I'm in the store I'll keep an eye out for in season organics and it should still be reasonable. Often times doing what's best for the environment, is also good for you too. This is one of those times.

So thanks for reminding me, Anna Lappé. You too, Nestle Chairman. Oh that wasn't the effect you were going for? Whoops. :)


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