I find that organic milk tastes better (and I drink skim...) and lasts FOREVER. It literally doesn't expire for 2 months on average. My wife and I take about that long to drink that much milk so we were pouring milk down the drain every week until we started buying organic.

@MauriceCallidice: Well, I guess I have two more days then! :)

I am allergic to anything with EDTA (Calcium Disoduim ETDA/disodium EDTA) and my husband found that this can be applied to the skin of fruits to reduce the appearance of bruising. I have eaten peaches for the last week with no problems, but when I ate cherries I became violently ill, and they were washed too.

Remember, Eggs were good for you, then bad for you, then good for you, then bad for you, OH but wait, now they're good for you again.

@crashfrog: No my diet is the same. That's the reason I mentioned that I workout often and whatnot; I'm very regimented about my diet as I'm what's termed a "Hard Gainer," and I have to count calories and amounts of this & that to make sure I'm eating ENOUGH. Trust me, my diet has not changed outside of "going organic." I don't sit down for a meal unless some animal died to be on the damn plate. Now though it's an organic, free-range animal :-)

@govkid201: i have a complete opposite experience than you (i also work in produce). i find that the organics last much longer, and the quality is dramatically better overall. the drawback that i see with organics is that they're usually smaller, but then again i'm not sure green peppers were meant to be the size of a football.

as for packaging, i haven't really noticed organics being more wasteful, but i'll keep an eye out.

I never knew about apples and celery! Good to know. We haven't eaten conventional strawberries for years because of their reputation -- and since organic strawberries are so expensive, we just aren't eating strawberries.

We have definitely seen an improvement in overall health since going mostly vegetarian (with some fish and shellfish). My skin is clear, even in spots where I used to have trouble. No IBS, or cyclical digestive problems that used to plague my daughter and I at times. Eating "right" won't cure or prevent medical catastrophe, but it can't hurt -- so why do people ridicule those who are searching for a way to do the best they can to manage their health? Unless they're being preachy or condescending about it (which doesn't happen that often here in the burbs -- most are just middle class families trying to make reasonable choices) I think it's an admirable goal.

Plus when you eat a warm salad of organic roasted beets on organic field greens with organic feta and candied pecans (that you candied yourself) with a homemade olive oil/balasamic/mustard/thyme/honey dressing, you get to drink TWICE (or even THREE TIMES) as much beer than if you had eaten a cheeseburger. It's TRUE!

@mmmsoap: At my grocery stores, organic is usually grown and shipped from overseas, and non-organic is local. So no, organic =/= petrol friendly.

there is no difference in transport. they arrive the same way as other produce and with more packaging nothing saved.
They also are not really sustainable. Think about it. organics are harder to grow so a farmer gets less produce per acre. that causes the soil to become nutrient depleted quicker than if they were to use conventional methods that add nutrients rather than remove them.

Make sure your will's in order. :-)

Not strictly true. Organic farmers can spray Bt toxin or organism, and they can use cultivars that express high levels of natural pesticides.

Most of the pesticides we use, after all, are synthetic versions of chemicals plants had already evolved to defend against predation.

First of all, there is no robust evidence that it's carcinogenic in humans

From your link: "5-Methoxypsoralen is probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A)." Or from this study: "These compounds have been reported to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and to cause phytophotodermatitis (an epidermal reaction symptomized by bullous eruptions, pigmentation, and potential vesicle formation)...We observed for the first time that ingestion of bergapten and/or xanthotoxin decreased weight gain and birthrate of rats. "

Secondly, it's only activated by ultraviolet

What, you mean like that found outside? Where celery is grown? Or like how you might get it on your hands as you handle it, and then go out in the sun?

Finally, there's an assumption you neglected to mention - that organic produce is unprotected by the farmer.

Well, they're not using pesticides, right?

The changes to your diet were probably not just conventional to organic - you probably eat more fruits and vegetables altogether. But understand that your paying an extra dollar or more per fruit for something marketed as a panacea but not at all proven in effectiveness. The fact that you're paying more for the same thing might be why you think they taste better (it's a known bias in the human mind.)

Your example of organic celery is particularly misleading. First of all, there is no robust evidence that it's carcinogenic in humans (IARC 1987 [www.inchem.org]). Secondly, it's only activated by ultraviolet so unless you plan on eating celery and then going to a tanning salon, you're safe enough. Finally, there's an assumption you neglected to mention - that organic produce is unprotected by the farmer.

Now, I don't eat celery. But if I did, I'd eat organic celery since it absorbs pesticides more than most vegetables.

A1: When you are a clueless BoBo sucker ready to be parted with your money as a religious offering to Gaia.

A2: When you are too lazy to just wash the fruit.

And for many applications organic agriculture is fundamentally unsustainable, due to the higher land and water use.

The six measures of contamination we used were:
Percent of the samples tested with detectable pesticides
Percent of the samples with two or more pesticides
Average number of pesticides found on a sample
Average amount (level in parts per million) of all pesticides found
Maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample
Number of pesticides found on the commodity in total

It doesn't seem to matter if the pesticide is toxic or not, nor how toxic it is. Just that pesticides are there. I mean, technically milk can be used as a fungicide/pesticide (i've used it on plants, it works). I don't really care that every single peach they tested has a molecule of phosphorus on it, I want to know, on average, how many parts per million of potentially HARMFUL contaminants there are, on average. All that other BS looks like a great way to find false positives.

It's surprising how much stuff has to be added back to whipping cream after it's been ultra-pasteurized to make it taste and act like whipping cream again. There should be one ingredient listed on a carton of cream: cream.

But Organic free-range chicken HAZ A FLAVUR. I couldn't believe it.

The flavor is better, it lasts longer, and it's better for you? Yeah what's not to like, eh?

I work out and take care of my body, and I'm typically a little more in touch with how diet/exercise affects a person. I have been eating healthy since long before I went "organic." Almost immediately after going all-organic, I managed to drop about 2" off my waistline. I was not fat, I'm unsuccessful weightlifter, and I HAD a 32" waist before. That's right, I dropped down to 30" waist. I didn't even know I had that much unnecessary weight to begin with, as I'm very lean anyway.

And no, I didn't just "lose weight." I lost water weight/fat/other "bad" weight. My arm size stayed the same, I was still lifting the same amounts. The only difference was, I went organic, and my 6-pack turned into an 8-pack, and I've never been in better health in my entire life.

Yes, Organic is for real.

Sometimes I feel like an "organic" label is just an excuse to mark something up 200%. Being cheap, it never tempts me.

@idx: But you could probably drink a half gallon before it expires.

What they don't list out is the actual levels detected in each case. For example, peaches is at the top of their list, but if the levels are very low, then unless you were eating an orchard full of peaches a day, it might not even reach toxic levels. Without such data, their chart is pretty meaningless. Recall before how a study detected drugs in the water supply, but at such low levels you'd have to snort a whole lake's worth to get high.

Not that organic doesn't have its benefits. I find that local organic food tastes better, since it is picked when it's ripe, and not picked to survive a 2-3 week truck ride to my supermarket. But if something isn't in season, then I don't find going organic really makes much of a difference in terms of taste.

I'll stick to taking advantage of .99 (on sale) red grapes that have ambiguous origins but won't make me feel guilty for spending money.

On the other hand, if I could afford for all of my berries to be organic...

If you ask me? Never.

Not that "cage-free" is any picnic. Granted, the chickens aren't in battery cages the size of a shoebox, but they are often crammed into large barns cheek-to-jowl. Neither is a particularly enjoyable life.

@mrgenius: I saw it last friday and my grocery shopping trip on saturday was one interesting experience. The meat aisle will never look the same again.

But there are a lot of other reasons to eat "organic", such as wanting to avoid excessive petroleum use (in pesticide and transport) or to support sustainable agriculture. Granted, there are definitely levels, and many big-brand "organics" aren't much better than the conventional versions, but there are options that are significantly better for the water supply, carbon-footprint, and livestock health.

But "natural" doesn't mean "safe to eat." (That's sort of the point, to be poisonous to the animals that eat them.) Organic celery, for instance, can often contain 100 times the normal concentrations of bergaptin, a carcinogenic toxin. Organic produce has even been subject to recalls because natural toxin levels were so high.

Personally I'd rather have the pesticides on the surface of the produce, where they quickly break down when exposed to water and sunlight, than expressed inside the produce itself.

i've worked produce all through college and now law school, and that's definitely influenced me to spend what little money i have on organics. opening boxes of non-organic apples and almost passing out because of the fumes will do that to you.

I just saw Food, Inc. I am never eating anything again!