Non-gmo and/or organic food products are not what they’re advertised, they are solely a placebo effect. Over the course of the past few years, the trend of clean eating has signified a shift in generational thinking. However, as a result people have tended to shun organic foods which have gained a reputation as unhealthy among those who keep off. Research has shown the contrary, that organic or non- GMO food is healthy and the cause for people not consuming it is the placebo effect. According to Brynie (2012), the placebo effect is where the human brain gets preconditioned to anticipate certain outcomes whether true or false. As such, people have wrongly been caught up into thinking that organic food is unhealthy whereas the converse is true. In this paper therefore, the focus of discussion will be to show how the defined placebo effect has kept people away from otherwise healthy organic/non-GMO food. In addition, a case for the healthy organic food will be put forward with evidence to support.
Obtaining organic and non-gmo food products used to be much more difficult ten years ago than it is today. In fact, the regulations on organic food labeling was released a few years ago (Gigot, 2018). A majority of gas stations now offer healthier, more expensive food options- like naked smoothies distributed by PepsiCo. However, though the intention in buying these products is to ultimately attain better health, consumers are largely uninformed of what they are buying and how these products are affecting their bodies.
Advertisements often aim at targeting this youthful audience; they are susceptible to suggestion and will often empty their pockets for a fad product that celebrities claim will get you “fit”. For example, millennials obsess over this “slim-thick” image, and thus they will buy into almost any unreliable product if they are convinced it will be effective. This is the placebo effect at play and as a result healthier food options become neglected without good reason.
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The organic food industry is a 30-billion-per-year enterprise and while there is sufficient amounts of organic foods available, people often purchase items that are inauthentic and claim to be organic when they are not (Newby, 2016). Sounds confusing, but when you go into depth with labeling and the processes involved, it becomes evident that we could all very easily be mistaken about what we are truly purchasing. In order to be labeled as an organic food product, a product must have biodiversity, conserve natural resources, and use only USDA approved substances, according to USDA.org (2016).
“This means that organic operations must maintain or enhance soil and water quality, while also conserving wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.”. Sounds all good and well. But now there are three categories organic foods fall into, “100% Organic”, ‘Organic’, and ‘’made with’ Organic’. The first two categories allow you to put the USDA organic seal/claim on your product, and the last allows you to claim the organic ingredients.
Many food companies offering organic food brand have entered the U.S market because for starters, the organic food market is very lucrative, with single companies having shares that have been estimated on average at $600 billion dollars (Westgate, 2006). In addition, the executives had noted an existing gap in the market occasioned by convenience stores and supermarkets being unable to fill the neighborhood quarter of demand. As such, executive have thought it proper, to venture into the U.S market where opportunity is determined profitable.
In California for example, Nestle organic estimated that over 35 million customers would embrace the brand, more so, across all ethnicities in the cosmopolitan setting. Further, the business model of the company was apt to the demand of time-pressured consumers with an eye to fresh foods and ready-to-eat meals (Westgate, 2006). The company was in total, set to benefit upon entry into the U.S market thanks to the factors illustrated. They had conducted due research and reported positively on key parameters. Given the market statistics, it was evident that a venture into the market would be deemed profitable in the long run. The company had the wherewithal to make a profit in the new American market, on condition that strategies be suitably adapted.
However good the outlook, there are concerns. For example, due to the fact that the organic food industry is fairly new, organic foods still contain pesticides and GMOs that aren’t prohibited in these foods products. This is because cross pollination of crops often occurs on farms from strong winds. Also known as allogamy, cross pollination occurs when pollen from one farm is blown through the air to the next, which will often lead to cross contamination between farms using GMOs and farms not using GMOs. “Contamination of non-GMO crops through cross-pollination. As of 2013, almost 400 incidents across 63 countries of GMO contamination have been recorded.”
Additionally, because farms that use GMOs lack regulations on pesticides, cross contamination of pesticides with these neighboring organic farms is also inevitable. This is one of the main reasons why farmers are still allowed to sell their produce with pesticide residue. “Even so, in a USDA study of 571 fruit and vegetable samples bearing the organic seal, 43% had detectable residues of prohibited pesticides “. Farmers are not attempting the use of synthetic chemicals/ pesticides, but conventional GMO farms are too large in scale to prevent the allogamy.
To summarize these categories, a good percentage of our organic food products are not truly more nutritious or 100% organic, truth be told, only a small portion of advertised organic foods are such.
100% Organic
- All ingredients must be certified organic.
- Any processing aids must be organic.
- Product labels must state the name of the certifying agent on the information panel All agricultural ingredients must be certified organic, except where specified on National List.
- Non-organic ingredients allowed per National List may be used, up to a combined total of five percent of non-organic content (excluding salt and water).
- Product labels must state the name of the certifying agent on the information panel. At least 70 percent of the product must be certified organic ingredients (excluding salt and water).
- Any remaining agricultural products are not required to be organically produced.
- Non-agricultural products must be specifically allowed on the National List.
- Product labels must state the name of the certifying [USDA] agent on the information panel.
In 2050, according to Newby (2016), it is expected that the population will be meeting close to 10 billion; meaning that about 50 million Americans will be left without a sufficient food supply. The organic food industry takes up only 1% compared to all of the conventional farms, but with the estimated population increase, the world’s agricultural production will have to increase by 60% (Newby, 2016).
Moreover, the production of organic foods will result in a depletion of resources. The difference between organic farms versus conventional farms, and the ratio of them, cancels out what’s ecologically better all-around for the world in the scheme of things when it comes to producing organic foods. More than two dozen pesticides are prohibited in producing organic food products either way, although they might not be synthetic. Going organic does have its health benefits, but the research is so limited that there is not enough evidence. Another issue is the amount of food that is being wasted around the world, which the organic food industry isn’t helping with.
Organic food is difficult to grow and produces lower yields, along with the absence of GMOs, making the food spoil at an accelerated rate. In an average household, we throw away 40-50% of all the food we buy, even if it’s still edible and packaged. “currently, food waste is the number one material taking up landfill space, more than paper or plastic”; this is a major problem concerning our western civilization considering there are developing countries still struggling to find sufficient amounts of food every day. The law of attraction is a luring topic especially regarding the improvement of a person’s physical health or even someone’s’ mental health; the idea that all of your thoughts manifest into something eventually. That being said, if someone is to have only negative thoughts towards themselves or their life, all of their decisions in their life will reflect how they feel. This is an interesting concept.
Organic food can also be used to tackle social problems such as homelessness. Indeed, homelessness has been identified as disenfranchising especially, in terms of health for those affected. According to the writers, homeless individuals, are not beneficiaries of the health programs designed for the greater population (Westgate, 2006). As such, the researchers aver that, there is need for interventions to be especially designed to accommodate the homeless individuals in society. Top among the interventions, is enabling the homeless to observe a diet that improves their health and also incorporating exercise regimes to strengthen physical health of the affected. The researchers have proposed that, there must be interventions for this particularly vulnerable people in society, namely the homeless. They suggest that there must be tailored methods to deliver interventions among the homeless, foremost being the provision of food where organic options are really viable.
