The Organic Dish provides easy and delicious, fresh, natural and organic "make-your-own" meals and dinner kits for vegetarians and omnivores in Boulder, Colorado.

Why Organic

This section contains resources and information to help you find out more about organic food.

• What does organic mean?
• Why does organic matter?
• A different perspective
• Links to additional resources

10 Reasons for Eating Organic

1. Great taste

   Many people buy organic food because they believe it tastes better than non-organic food (that includes us). This could be because organic fruit and vegetables tend to grow more slowly and have a lower water content, which may contribute to the fuller flavor.

2. It’s healthy

   On average, organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants. For example, organic milk is naturally higher in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, vitamin A (beta carotene) and certain other antioxidants than non-organic milk.

3. No nasty additives

   Organic food contains significantly fewer additives than conventionally produced food. Among the banned additives are hydrogenated fat, aspartame (artificial sweetener) and monosodium glutamate, which have all been linked to health problems.

4. Avoids pesticides

   The best way of reducing your exposure to potentially harmful pesticides is to eat organically grown food. Over 440 pesticides can be routinely used in non-organic farming and residues are often present in non-organic food. Over 40% of all non-organic fruit, vegetables and bread tested in 2005 contained pesticides according to the Government’s Pesticide Residues Committee. The results for particular fruit and vegetables were much worse, e.g. chemicals were found in all oranges tested, 90% of bread, 72% of grapes and 95% pears.

5. GM-free

   Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are not allowed under organic standards. Over a million tonnes of GM crops are used to feed non-organic livestock that produce much, if not most, of the non-organic pork, bacon, milk cheese and other dairy products in our supermarkets.

6. No reliance on drugs

   Antibiotic additives routinely added to animal food to speed animal growth are linked with bacterial resistance in humans to the same or closely related antibiotics. Organic standards ban the routine use of antibiotics.

7. No hidden costs

   Every year we spend hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars to pay for chemicals to be removed from drinking water, mainly as a result of the pesticides used in farming.

8. High standards

   Organic food comes from trusted sources. All organic farms and food companies are inspected at least once a year.

9. Care for animals

   Animal welfare is taken very seriously under organic standards. The benefits of the organic approach are acknowledged by animal welfare organizations such as Compassion in World Farming.

10. Good for wildlife and the environment

    Overall organic farming supports more farmland wildlife than non-organic farming. The government has acknowledged that it is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays, produces less carbon dioxide – the main global warming gas – and less dangerous wastes.

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