Organic Food Festival 3-4 September, Bristol

Organic Food Festival 3-4 September, Bristol Harbourside. "Over 150 organic food and drink producers * Celebrity Chef Demos * Live bands * Livestock * Kids Taste Experience * Gorgeous health and Beauty Products * Organic Gardening * Fabulous fashion and textiles." Details here.

Organic food sales increasing in China after cooking oil scandal and other food safety scares

Organic food sales have taken off in China after a series of safety scares, including the disclosure that one in 10 meals is cooked using oil dredged from the sewer.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Government should recommend organic foods

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is calling on the US Government to revise national dietary guidelines to encourage people seeking to minimize their exposure to toxic chemicals to choose organic. The call comes just weeks after a report from the influential President’s Cancer Panel said that eating foods grown without pesticides was one practical way to reduce environmental cancer risk. The report added that exposure to antibiotics and growth hormones could be similarly “minimized by eating free-range meat raised without these medications.”
Read article in Natural Products magazine (UK)

Global organic supply grows to match demand

The amount of land dedicated to organic produce is growing due to government backing and market forces, opening up opportunities particularly in developing countries, according to a new report. The latest statistics show that worldwide, 32.2m hectares were certified according to organic standards in 2007, which was 1.5m hectares more than the previous year, said the report from the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). The study called: “The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2009” showed that by geographical region, growth was strongest in Latin America and Africa.
Read article at foodnavigator.com

Shortage of local supplies of organic foods

Organic food under threat - Observer

Extract:

"Figures to be released this week will reveal that the organic industry is in grave danger of becoming a victim of its own success. The public hunger to shop ethically, locally and sustainably - a phenomenon that reached its acme with the high-profile opening last month of the American Whole Foods Market in London's Kensington High Street - is eating up British crops faster than farmers can produce them. The organic sector's success is creating problems that could end up irrevocably damaging consumer confidence in organic food.

Despite breaking through the £1bn a year barrier, the growth in sales of organic food in the past year has dramatically slowed. Experts have no hesitation in identifying the problem as an increasing shortage in local supply."

Some people could, I suppose, grow a small amount of organic food for themselves. - Salads and herbs are not difficult to grow, for instance, and do not need a big garden.


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See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

Food scientists have done tests and say they have evidence that organic produce is better for us than non-organic.

Organic IS healthier, say food scientists

Extracts:

"As the debate rages on about whether organically grown food is better for us than the "conventional" produce we have become used to, a new study sides firmly with organic.
Scientists found that some organic food is more healthy after tests on kiwi fruit grown by both methods.

The American researchers discovered that organically grown kiwis had significantly higher levels of vitamin C and polyphenols - compounds associated with health benefits including reducing cholesterol, improving circulation and preventing cancer."

"The researchers compared organic and non-organic kiwis grown next to each other on a farm in Marysville, California, at the same time. They found levels of sugars and acids were almost identical, so the flavour would be similar.

The organic fruit was darker and had thicker skin - likely to have developed as part of its defence against pests in the absence of pesticides.

It had 17 per cent more polyphenols - antioxidants that reduce the production in the body of harmful chemicals called free radicals. The organic produce was also found to have 14 per cent more vitamin C and greater concentrations of several important minerals such as potassium and calcium."