There is a downside to eating healthy. It is more expensive. There are a lot of reasons for the cost differential between organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables as more so from organic to processed/packaged foods. They range from the need for crop rotation, more labor, natural fertilizers, and organic certification costs.
What I believe to be the most unfortunate reason behind this cost differential is the fact that the government taxes organic foods through the certification process while chemical and food manufacturers do not go through any type of stringent approval process. This is a huge disadvantage for healthy food producers. New chemical and food additives easily circumvent the FDA's approval process by a process called GRAS or generally recognized as safe. The product coming to market is basically approved by its marketer, a gross injustice to healthy food producers and the unsuspecting consumers.
Herein lies the problem. A company can use public or private research to determine the safety of a chemical and whether or not it qualifies as GRAS. If it does pass, the FDA doesn't even have to be notified. It's a voluntary program. So basically the company who will profit from the sale of the chemical or food item is the one who stamps it as safe and they don't even have to report it. As you can see, it is very cheap and easy to bring new additives to market. Unfortunately, this has led to the rise in use of artificial sweeteners, flavors, and dyes as well as untested preservatives and other chemicals.
On the other hand, in order for a farm or food manufacturer to use the government's USDA Organic label, it must pass inspection. The onus and cost is on the organic farmer to prove that his/her product is legitimately organic, which makes sense. My issue with the whole process is the dichotomy. Why are food additives and their chemistry labs not held to the same standard? Why are they allowed to approve their own chemicals? It's absurd. And we are all at risk because of it.
I've had a lot of people tell me the best thing to focus on is to close the loophole and create more oversight on the chemical companies. New laws could be helpful, but fighting the food lobby is not an easy task. Not only do they spend millions of dollars each year influencing politicians, they also have rotating door policies where employees go to work for the government and then come back. They are working together. The singular option we can control are our dollars and what we use them for.
If we choose healthier foods, like organic and non-GMO products, we boost demand and profitability for the organic industry supplying us. This allows them to spread their costs over greater volume and reduce prices to the consumer. Conversely, less demand for unhealthy processed foods means lower profit for those producers. These companies are certainly not worried about our health. I bet they will be a lot more concerned about declining bank accounts. It's time to set a new course and take back our food supply.
What I believe to be the most unfortunate reason behind this cost differential is the fact that the government taxes organic foods through the certification process while chemical and food manufacturers do not go through any type of stringent approval process. This is a huge disadvantage for healthy food producers. New chemical and food additives easily circumvent the FDA's approval process by a process called GRAS or generally recognized as safe. The product coming to market is basically approved by its marketer, a gross injustice to healthy food producers and the unsuspecting consumers.
Herein lies the problem. A company can use public or private research to determine the safety of a chemical and whether or not it qualifies as GRAS. If it does pass, the FDA doesn't even have to be notified. It's a voluntary program. So basically the company who will profit from the sale of the chemical or food item is the one who stamps it as safe and they don't even have to report it. As you can see, it is very cheap and easy to bring new additives to market. Unfortunately, this has led to the rise in use of artificial sweeteners, flavors, and dyes as well as untested preservatives and other chemicals.
On the other hand, in order for a farm or food manufacturer to use the government's USDA Organic label, it must pass inspection. The onus and cost is on the organic farmer to prove that his/her product is legitimately organic, which makes sense. My issue with the whole process is the dichotomy. Why are food additives and their chemistry labs not held to the same standard? Why are they allowed to approve their own chemicals? It's absurd. And we are all at risk because of it.
I've had a lot of people tell me the best thing to focus on is to close the loophole and create more oversight on the chemical companies. New laws could be helpful, but fighting the food lobby is not an easy task. Not only do they spend millions of dollars each year influencing politicians, they also have rotating door policies where employees go to work for the government and then come back. They are working together. The singular option we can control are our dollars and what we use them for.
If we choose healthier foods, like organic and non-GMO products, we boost demand and profitability for the organic industry supplying us. This allows them to spread their costs over greater volume and reduce prices to the consumer. Conversely, less demand for unhealthy processed foods means lower profit for those producers. These companies are certainly not worried about our health. I bet they will be a lot more concerned about declining bank accounts. It's time to set a new course and take back our food supply.
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Please see more information at my website why artificial sweeteners are bad or this article what's bad about processed foods
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