Organic Food vs Non Organic Food - The Facts



Organic Food vs Non Organic Food - The Facts

There are several differences between food grown in an organic manner and food grown by conventional farming. Read the organic food vs non organic food chart, which is given below, to compare the facts about organic foods and non organic foods.

|Fact |Non Organic Food |Organic Food |

|Nutrients |During processing, non organic foods lose some |Organic foods contain more nutrients, that is, a |

| |nutrients and such nutrients have to be artificially |higher amount of minerals and vitamin C. |

| |added back to the food. | |

|Fertilizers |Chemical fertilizers are used to provide nutrients for |Natural fertilizers like green manure and compost |

| |the growth of crops in conventional farming. |are used for the plants and soil in organic farming.|

| | |If the question is of chemical fertilizers vs |

| | |organic fertilizers, then chemical fertilizers are |

| | |obviously more harmful. |

|Pesticides |In conventional farming, there are over 450 pesticides |Pesticides are not allowed in organic gardening or |

| |which are permitted for use. Many of these pesticides |farming. In certain cases, they maybe allowed but |

| |are toxic. |only after considering factors like necessity, |

| | |effect on human health and environmental health. |

|Herbicides |Herbicides are used in non organic farming to protect |Methods like crop rotation and hand weeding are used|

| |crops from insects and weeds. Herbicides sometimes |instead of herbicides in organic gardening and |

| |leave a harmful toxic residue on the plants. |farming. |

|Sewage Sludge |Human waste is used as a fertilizer to grow crops in |Use of sewage sludge is not permitted in organic |

| |conventional farming. This contaminated sewage sludge |farming. |

| |may cause diseases. | |

|Irradiation |Non organic food is irradiated, to kill harmful |Irradiation is avoided in organic farming. |

| |bacteria and other microorganisms. Such radiations | |

| |might cause diseases in human beings. | |

|Nitrate Amount |Fertilizers contain nitrate as a common ingredient and |Organic food contains lesser amount of nitrates in |

| |this nitrate gets converted to nitrosamines, which may |it. |

| |be retained in the food and be cancer causing. | |

|Genetic Engineering |Genetically modified seeds are used in non organic |Organic farming selects healthy seeds by seed |

| |farming. Such seeds are expensive and difficult for |testing. |

| |farmers to afford. Such seeds give high yields crops, | |

| |but such plants may be deficient in nutrients. | |

|Animal Welfare |Animals are given antibiotics against diseases. |Good animal husbandry standards are maintained in |

| |Intensive farming methods are used to grow chicken |organic farming. No antibiotics are used on animals,|

| |quickly and most of the time the animals are kept |but homeopathic medicine is used, in case an animal |

| |indoors. |gets sick. If a farmer gives any antibiotic to an |

| | |animal, he loses the certificate for organic |

| | |farming. Livestock are handled properly and given a |

| | |proper diet, and adequate exposure to the outdoors. |

|Hormones |Animals are injected with hormones for stimulating |No hormones are used in organic animal husbandry. |

| |growth, so that they can be sold in the markets. | |

|Effect on human body|As animals are given antibiotics in conventional |Organic farming is not permitted to use such harmful|

| |farming, human body, when sick does not accept the same|chemicals. Thus, when you measure the pros and cons |

| |antibiotics, thus reducing the body's immunity in the |of organic food vs non organic food, organic food is|

| |long run. Exposure to pesticides is harmful to humans |better, as it has lower health risks. |

| |and especially harmful to women's health. | |

|Food Poisoning |There are more chances of food poisoning with |Possibility of toxic pathogens is very less in |

| |conventional farming food products because of the use |organic foods. |

| |of chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides.| |

|Environment |Use of pesticides damages aquatic life. Herbicides and |Organic farming uses crop rotation to prevent pests,|

|Pollution |pesticides contain toxic chemicals, which has resulted |by creating a more diverse ecological system to |

| |in lesser number of birds, insects and wild plants on |naturally grow the pest's predators. For increasing |

| |the farmland. Earthworms are essential for good soil |the quality of soil, natural manure and composting |

| |health and using pesticides and insecticides reduce |is done. Thus, the benefits of organic farming are |

| |earthworm population. This leads to increased |more long term and benefit in fighting problems like|

| |dependence of the soil, on pesticides. |degradation of the environment. |

|Soil Erosion |Due to productivity and cropping regimes in |Use of green manure and good topsoil management, |

| |conventional farming, there is more soil erosion. |prevents soil erosion in organic farming. |

|Cost |Non organic food contains many hidden cost like taxes |The pros and cons of organic farming shows us that |

| |and the cost of the treatment for the harm caused to |organic food is more expensive. But with the number |

| |the environment by conventional farming. |of farmers shifting to organic farming and increased|

| | |government funding, the prices will come down. Also,|

| | |organic food has lesser hidden cost. |

|Appearance |Non organic food is treated many times with |Organic food decays earlier, as there are no |

| |preservatives. |preservatives added. Also, it looks similar to non |

| | |organic food, but sometimes might have different |

| | |shapes and color. |

|Quality Standards |All non organic food products have the normal quality |All organic food should have a USDA organic label. |

| |approval labels on them. | |

|Food Safety |Many a times harmful preservatives are added to non |Organic foods are safer and better, as they don't |

| |organic foods. |use any toxic chemicals. |

|Availability |If you measure the availability of organic food vs non |Some organic foods are imported from other countries|

| |organic food, most non organic foods are easily |and therefore, you cannot be assured of the quality |

| |available. |of imported organic food. |

|Number of Consumers |Maximum consumers buy non organic food, as it is |Consumers are shifting towards buying organic foods,|

| |cheaper and easily available. |with growing awareness. |

Organic food is better as it uses natural farming techniques. It is similar to preferring natural remedies when suffering from a disease as compared to eating chemical antibiotics. So, the question of organic foods vs non organic foods – which is better, is clearly answered by the above table that organic food surpasses the conventionally produced food in several ways. Though, more studies are required to establish facts about organic foods and their long term effects.

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