The Green Invasion
On conventional farms, animals are routinely given hormones and antibiotics, which could be passed on to your dinner plate. Though there is no scientific consensus about whether these substances cause health problems, shoppers who want to avoid them can look for other phrases on meat packages. "You are not necessarily going to see the organic label," says Keecha Harris, a national nutrition consultant for the Head Start program. "You are going to see how the animal is raised." Beef that is marked "pasture-raised," for example, means the cow grazed on grass, and "free-range" denotes chickens that aren't confined to small cages. Or the package of pork chops might state that no growth hormones or antibiotics were used or that the pig was fed an all-vegetable diet. Some stores, such as Whole Foods, set their own guidelines for the meat they buy, and thus the packages may not be labeled. The best way to figure it out: Ask the butcher.
These days, the biggest organic explosion is in the middle of the store, where the cereals, frozen foods, and processed packaged goods are sold. Experts urge shoppers to remember that the organic label means one thing and one thing only. So the corn in Orville Redenbacher's organic microwave popcorn comes from an organic farm; Heinz's organic ketchup uses organic tomato concentrate and organic sugar. Shoppers still need to flip over those jars and packages and scrutinize the nutrition facts, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian with Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Organic food and regular food should be viewed with the same skepticism when it comes to calories and fat.
Take Whole Foods organic chocolate truffles made with organic cocoa beans, organic vegetable oil, and organic cane sugar. With just three candies packing more than half of the daily allowance of fat, they're not exactly a health food. But, "they taste pretty good," says Fromartz.
In the end, nearly everyone--even the most ardent organic fans--recommends that a consumer's first goal be a nutritionally balanced diet. Then the organic decision comes into play. "What people should be doing is getting more fruits and vegetables regardless of whether they're conventional or organic," says Harris. "A cheese puff is a cheese puff is a cheese puff."
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