Organic food and farming
Often when we hear about organic products is to ask whether we are really better than many other products we consume. Surely, a crop free from chemical additives and a farm where animals eat healthy foods is able to return food tastier and certainly healthier to eat, although there is no evidence that these foods are biologically higher than produced by the method traditional.
There is no research aimed at demonstrating that organic farming is actually more healthy than to industrial production, and indeed there are experts who argue that the industrial production processes to ensure greater quality in terms of hygiene in food, considering the fact that often organic farms use manure as fertilizer or other natural fertilizers can be converted into real crawl of bacteria capable of causing serious diseases such as salmonella.
Biologically speaking what is true is that there are foods that should be better monitored and controlled, such as wine grapes from an organic farming can be deteriorated by the addition of products that are used to make wine, for example sulphite which facilitates the fermentation but can be toxic to the body. If we consider that the doses of sulphite wine provided for the construction of traditional ecological and wine are practically identical, it follows that the so-called biological wine uncorked on the table may not be very different from a traditional wine. And this is just an example of how often the processes of transformation of food and beverages are able to destroy the ‘organic origin’ of raw materials.
Production
The primary objective of an organic farmer is to try to keep your soil healthy, so that it can be born healthy plants, which give healthy fruits. The first rule to follow is therefore to respect nature, satisfy the natural cycles of plants and how to banish any chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides, herbicides and herbicides, fertilizers, or any type of colorant and preservative , finally, genetically modified organisms, the famous GM. Following these rules will get at least natural products grown in respect for natural cycles of the earth until you get to our tables, and using seed derived, also, from organic farming systems.
The land used for organic crops must first be physically distant from possible sources of pollution, including industries, highways or garbage dumps. It is important then that the original purity of the land has been preserved and that therefore the soil is not contaminated with fertilizers, herbicides and other chemicals can deteriorate the “organic origin, for at least two years. Two years, is the period of time required for land previously to purify polluted by harmful substances: this time called “conversion period”.
Moreover, in the absence of chemical aid is also important to preserve soil fertility naturally with plowing shallow grooves do not create that exceed 30 cm. This method of plowing kind helps to preserve the most of the components of the medium. This is followed by sowing, which must also be made with the utmost respect for nature that includes the use of the system of “seeding hard” to sow the ground is worked very shallow so that the seeds can penetrate in the ground without too much upset the natural order and land ownership.
Organic farming, if you really want to be organic, it must use only fertilizers from natural, such as manure or compost, a mix of organic source material.
Organic farming can build very traditional farming techniques like crop rotation or green manure, as did the ancient peasants for centuries.
The crop rotation consists of alternating crops to be executed on the same ground following a fairly regular cycle, usually two years, three or four years. In this way you will not grow the same crops year after year, but crops are equally spaced, thus preserving the ownership of land without stressing too much.
The manure provides for the cultivation of crops with a huge benefit to fertilizing capacity of the soil they are planted. Usually you use the technique of manure in a break between two main crops: for example, can produce crops with leguminous green manure crops to fertilize cultivated land after sugar beet and before starting a new crop of corn. During the period of green manure crops from the land rests too demanding, regenerates and recharges, that can then be again cultivated with other crops providing excellent results.
Organic farming provides, as a defense against possible plant diseases, only using natural products or mild natural pesticides such as gelatin, vegetable oils, the flints, lecithin, sulfur, copper, macerated plant or the counter attack with the launch of insect pests and predators. But this only if absolutely necessary.
Organic farming
Just as agriculture, livestock is also a practice that can benefit from the biological advantages in this case are not limited to people who will eat the products but also and above all to the same animals, which are bred in to have greater respect of their being of living creatures.
Organic farms should ensure the good health of animals and provided them with hygiene and cleanliness, wide open pastures where feed and in the case of non-ruminant animals, organic foods.
Special procedures should be followed at all stages of the production chain from the keeper of the animal, slaughter, packaging and transport. In none of these phases, the meat must come into contact with chemicals to preserve the organic. In the case of animal diseases, organic farming involves the use of homeopathic medicines or herbal products, while recourse to the use of antibiotics, which in any case then leave traces in the food that you will derive from the animal, only where the animal is in serious danger. Equally prohibited are any noun to stimulate growth, such as hormones, or control playback.
By following these basic rules of organic farming is therefore able to restore healthy, natural foods, without any toxic residue, all while reducing energy consumption resulting from industry chemicals and preserving agricultural land that increasingly are saturated with chemicals that are then absorbed from the food produced there.
Regulations and certification
All organic products are provided with a label that can be recognized by the mare magnum of industrial products. Obviously there are specific rules in Europe governing the production, testing and certification of the production process of a biological product. These regulations undergo several periodic updates by introducing different rules according to their place of origin, and increasingly stringent rules with regard to the labeling.
The new regulations recently introduced in our country place emphasis on the principles and basic rules relating to organic farming, especially as regards the import and the rationalization of control systems. To cite just one of the new rules, the CTM introduced by the European Commission as long ago as 2000 and use optional labels until recently, now is mandatory although it can be supported by other national brands or private. The coveted brand can be used only if the products contain at least 95% of ingredients derived from crops, livestock or biological methods. In the case of mixed products, the product label may indicate in their composition the presence of some organic products but will not have the mark of the European Commission.
It is hoped that this new provision is concerned with the regulation of products belonging to areas of little-regulated, such as aquaculture, wine industry and the production of organic yeast.
The label
A certified organic product must have a label showing:
* The words produced from organic-EEC control system.
* The name written in full body responsible for inspection and certification, for example CCPB, IMC, CODEX, etc..
* The producer code.
* The details of the ministerial authorization for the production of organic products.
* The symbol of the country of origin together with the body designated to control (a three-letter code).
* A “T” where the product is processed and an “F” if the product is fresh, along with the numbers of ministerial authorization.
* Information on the geographical origin of the product.
* The CTM.
The same rules apply even if the products are sold in bulk, such as boxes of organic fruit, which must have a label that contains the data to certify the origin of organic fruit. Remember, to inspect labels and certificates of biological origin is a right for all consumers. In this regard, it should also establish a relationship of trust with retailers, preferring those who, by profession and philosophy, dealing exclusively certified organic products.
Inspection bodies
There is a precise control system valid for all countries outside the European Union that aims to control, through the promulgation of national laws and international organic farming. In Italy the controls on organic production are assigned to special specialized agencies, authorized and approved by the European Economic Community.
These organisms are involved in:
* Perform periodic inspections and surprise in companies that produce organic food.
* Analyze the organizations working to apply the Community rules.
* Check the registration of all products conform to organic production methods at the appropriate body to national control.
For these tests are selected and tested by independent auditors selected impartiality, reliability and competence of the Authority, to be able to check and approve their methods of supervision and control. These controllers are either private organizations at national authorities. Those currently allowed in our country are eleven: Soil and Health Services; Institute for Ethical and Environmental Certification ICEA; Bioagricert Ltd.; Codex srl; Consortium Biological Control Products CCPB; Q. CEI. Services sas, Italy Ecocert, Bios, Mediterranean Institute of Certification IMC; Eco System International Certifications Ltd; Biozoo Ltd.
Checks are carried out at all stages of the production process of organic food, from production to packaging, processing storage. Where in any of these steps are not respected the rules, the product may not wear the label of organic product.
Where to buy
Organic products are found in many specialty shops such as butchers and greengrocers as well as a corner dedicated outlets within supermarkets. Many of these stores offer their consumers a better selection of fresh products and packaged local products, all with regular certification.
Many and ever increasing number are also bars and restaurants that prepare their clients plates and dishes made with ingredients that come from crops and organic farms. An example of these places are, first of all, farm holidays, in addition to the organic origin of the product itself also offer customers the opportunity to touch some of the processes of organic production, the realization of jams oil, the cultivation Fruit and vegetable breeding. Often these products end up in the farmhouse table and can also be bought to consume then home. Again, check the label is a must, to be sure that what you’re eating is truly organic.
The field of organic food production is rapidly expanding throughout Italy, with exports to many many European countries, America and Japan. Over one third of organic products that are exported are produced in Italy, and these are mainly vegetables and fruits, legumes and cereals, rice and pasta, olive oil, dairy products and cheeses, condiments and sauces, honey, dried fruit products by industry and, obviously, our wine. This also means a consequent increase in control systems and safeguards, a variety of increasingly large and more accessible to the world of biology.
Costs
For many years organic products had a higher cost compared to industrial products and this has led to slow development of the organic sector. The prices are often high, partly due to costs incurred by producers to achieve the required certification, as certifications include controls at every stage of production process unlike what happens for industrial products at a lower production as regards quantity, a greater amount of labor in the fields and farms and a distribution network that can certainly be improved in many respects and better organized.
It must be said however that an increasing number of consumers who prefer to spend a bit ‘more to be assured of quality, naturalness and safety of foods that put on the table, probably a trend fueled by phenomena as avian flu and mad cow disease, clearly caused by inappropriate farming systems. The growth of the organic market and the growing number of consumers has resulted in the expansion of organic products available. If once the offer was limited to organic meat, fruit and vegetables now virtually no limit to the amount of ingredients and organic products that we can bring to the table.
