Organic food in supermarkets

Edwardia

British Free Range Egg Producers Association
www.theranger.co.uk

http://www.theranger.co.uk/News/Organic-eggs-still-declining-_21852.html

http://www.theranger.co.uk/News/Eggs-could-improve-health-of-unborn-babies_21846.html

Edwardia

***cupcake*** good question and I'm sure something that many other people will find of concern.

Free Range is not a term which can be certified across all products.

It may imply higher welfare conditions for the birds and animals and therefore better tasting products but the reality is that when a pie manufacturer states on the packaging: " made containing free range eggs ", there's no certifying logo.

A free range chicken from Farmfoods may be a very different chicken from a free range chicken from Abel & Cole.

A British Red Tractor logo is a guarantee of welfare and quality standards but it doesn't mean that the birds/animals weren't given GM feed/crops or routine antibiotics.

So when it comes to free range the only suggestion I can make is to buy from a reputable shop or straight off a farm with staff you can ask questions of. look for Red Tractor logo, 'free range' and 'outdoor bred'.

Edwardia

My suggestion is to mix it up ie cut down on the amount of red meat and add in more variety eg poultry, wild game and fish - either wild or organically farmed and yes, more vegetarian dishes using nuts, seeds, organic tofu, organic cheese and organic veggies.

Cheapest places for organic cheese - Sainsbury's, Lidl,
Cheapest places for organic veg - Lidl, Morrisons, ASDA (finding it in them can be a problem in some areas).
Cheapest place for ready to cook organic salmon fillets - ASDA 2 for £4 at fish counter
Cheapest place for organic baked beans - Sainsbury's
Cheapest place for organic bread - Sainsbury's
Cheapest place for organic tinned tomatoes - ASDA
Cheapest places for organic pasta - Lidl, ASDA
Cheapest places for mixed weight organic free range eggs - Tesco, ASDA

Organic meat and poultry - cheap stuff can be flavourful but tough.

Would suggest buying organic diced beef only if using in slow cooked dishes. Sainsbury's has been doing 3 packs for £10 recently.
Sainsbury's steaks very hit or miss ie can be melt in mouth or chewy Gave up on Tesco as tough. Sainsbury's lamb more often good than not. IMO Daylesford chicken best but only available via Ocado. Sainsbury's chicken not particularly good.

Abel & Cole has really cheap organic chicken carcasses and organic lamb or beef bones for stocks, stews and soups. Like the Laverstoke Park scrag end of neck too.

All New Zealand lamb is outdoor reared-grass pastured. You may find better bargains buying frozen NZ than fresh British lamb and it is possible to buy frozen NZ organic from Waitrose - everything we've had so far has been great. It is also possible to buy frozen wild game from some supermarkets.

Anyone else have any ideas ?

Edwardia

lindsaykim13 - I haven't seen large sacks of organic rice in supermarkets or local ethnic shops for that matter.

http://www.naturallygoodfood.co.uk/Rice
Found this online gives bulk buy prices.

Fire_Fox

***cupcake*** wrote: »

Hello all!

Has anyone any suggestions for decent meat? I can't afford to feed my meat eaters organic all of the time - free range is my ideal but finances just don't allow it sadly.

I'm not happy with current suppliers and I really would like to know any top tips for good quality, British meat.

P.s. (no local butcher or ocado )

I can't afford organic meat nor even the higher welfare free range. Many supermarkets have frozen British chicken livers for just £2.20 a kilo, super nutritious and great for padding out mince dishes. Other British offal is widely available and cheap if your family are a bit more adventurous, pigs kidneys from only £1 a kilo can be used for padding. I justify cage offal on the basis that I'd prefer the whole of any animal not give the best treatment was eaten not wasted, but others may well feel differently.

Best prices for free range are Aldi British medium eggs at 14.5p an egg (only 2p an egg less than the standard supermarket price for higher welfare medium or mixed eggs), Aldi British free range whole chickens £3.40 a kilo, Waitrose British free range pork mince £6.60 a kilo (lean, £2 a kilo cheaper than Tesco regular lean pork mince!!).

I also eat wild oily fish: Wild Pacific pink salmon in 400g cans or frozen WP when on offer. AFAIK mackerel, sardines/ pilchards and herring are not normally farmed, it tends to be the pricey more popular fish that are farmed (eg. fresh salmon or rainbow trout). Canned mackerel or pilchards in tomato sauce are under £1 for a 400g can, fresh mackerel £5 a kilo. Hopefully Edwardia or someone else with more knowledge than I will correct if I have misunderstood.

James Potter Yorkshire LARGE free range eggs currently on offer at Asda, 24 for £4 so only 17p an egg. :T

Edwardia

I have noo idea why MSE objected to ethical superstore dot com but if you Google it you'll find Ecover washing up liquid and dishwasher tablets on special offer.

Call me squeamish, but personally I would not want to be eating an animal liver because the liver deals with all the toxins or the kidneys as I'd rather avoid something which filters animal urine ewww but lamb's hearts on the other hand can be totally yummy ditto oxtail and tongues mmm.

More and more fish on sale at fish counters and in fishmongers is farmed, these days. Salmon, sea bass, sea bream, tilapia, river cobbler, shrimps, prawns and oysters are usually farmed. Comparatively few cod, halibut, tuna and turbot are farmed.

Fish labelling laws were tightened in 2012 so if a fish is packaged it should tell you where it was fished or farmed. For fresh fish on fish counters you may have to ask.

Edwardia

Naomie Harris aka Miss Eve Moneypenny in 'Skyfall' shops organically
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/naomie-harris-my-london-8504577.html

Organic tomatoes healthier

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/organic-tomatoes-really-are-healthier-but-you-get-less-for-your-money-new-research-shows-8504218.html

Fire_Fox

Edwardia wrote: »

Organic tomatoes healthier

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/organic-tomatoes-really-are-healthier-but-you-get-less-for-your-money-new-research-shows-8504218.html

Thanks, interesting since I recently bought Suma canned tomatoes and Tarantella tomato paste! :T Study itself is free fulltext if anyone is feeling particularly geeky.

"This study was conducted with the objective of testing the hypothesis that tomato fruits from organic farming accumulate more nutritional compounds, such as phenolics and vitamin C as a consequence of the stressing conditions associated with farming system. Growth was reduced in fruits from organic farming while titratable acidity, the soluble solids content and the concentrations in vitamin C were respectively +29%, +57% and +55% higher at the stage of commercial maturity. At that time, the total phenolic content was +139% higher than in the fruits from conventional farming which seems consistent with the more than two times higher activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) we observed throughout fruit development in fruits from organic farming. Cell membrane lipid peroxidation (LPO) degree was 60% higher in organic tomatoes. SOD activity was also dramatically higher in the fruits from organic farming. Taken together, our observations suggest that tomato fruits from organic farming experienced stressing conditions that resulted in oxidative stress and the accumulation of higher concentrations of soluble solids as sugars and other compounds contributing to fruit nutritional quality such as vitamin C and phenolic compounds."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577808/


The 2012 literature review referred to in the article is also free fulltext
"BACKGROUND: The health benefits of organic foods are unclear.
PURPOSE:
To review evidence comparing the health effects of organic and conventional foods.
DATA SOURCES:
MEDLINE (January 1966 to May 2011), EMBASE, CAB Direct, Agricola, TOXNET, Cochrane Library (January 1966 to May 2009), and bibliographies of retrieved articles.
STUDY SELECTION:
English-language reports of comparisons of organically and conventionally grown food or of populations consuming these foods.
DATA EXTRACTION:
2 independent investigators extracted data on methods, health outcomes, and nutrient and contaminant levels.
DATA SYNTHESIS:
17 studies in humans and 223 studies of nutrient and contaminant levels in foods met inclusion criteria. Only 3 of the human studies examined clinical outcomes, finding no significant differences between populations by food type for allergic outcomes (eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization) or symptomatic Campylobacter infection. Two studies reported significantly lower urinary pesticide levels among children consuming organic versus conventional diets, but studies of biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences. All estimates of differences in nutrient and contaminant levels in foods were highly heterogeneous except for the estimate for phosphorus; phosphorus levels were significantly higher than in conventional produce, although this difference is not clinically significant. The risk for contamination with detectable pesticide residues was lower among organic than conventional produce (risk difference, 30% [CI, -37% to -23%]), but differences in risk for exceeding maximum allowed limits were small. Escherichia coli contamination risk did not differ between organic and conventional produce. Bacterial contamination of retail chicken and pork was common but unrelated to farming method. However, the risk for isolating bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics was higher in conventional than in organic chicken and pork (risk difference, 33% [CI, 21% to 45%]).
LIMITATION:
Studies were heterogeneous and limited in number, and publication bias may be present.
CONCLUSION:
The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods. Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
http://media.dssimon.com/taperequest/acp75_study.pdf


Free fulltext of FSA 2010 literature review on health outcomes
"Abstract
BACKGROUND:
There is uncertainty over the nutrition-related benefits to health of consuming organic foods.
OBJECTIVE:
We sought to assess the strength of evidence that nutrition-related health benefits could be attributed to the consumption of foods produced under organic farming methods.
DESIGN:
We systematically searched PubMed, ISI Web of Science, CAB Abstracts, and Embase between 1 January 1958 and 15 September 2008 (and updated until 10 March 2010); contacted subject experts; and hand-searched bibliographies. We included peer-reviewed articles with English abstracts if they reported a comparison of health outcomes that resulted from consumption of or exposure to organic compared with conventionally produced foodstuffs.
RESULTS:
From a total of 98,727 articles, we identified 12 relevant studies. A variety of different study designs were used; there were 8 reports (67%) of human studies, including 6 clinical trials, 1 cohort study, and 1 cross-sectional study, and 4 reports (33%) of studies in animals or human cell lines or serum. The results of the largest study suggested an association of reported consumption of strictly organic dairy products with a reduced risk of eczema in infants, but the majority of the remaining studies showed no evidence of differences in nutrition-related health outcomes that result from exposure to organic or conventionally produced foodstuffs. Given the paucity of available data, the heterogeneity of study designs used, exposures tested, and health outcomes investigated, no quantitative meta-analysis was justified.
CONCLUSION:
From a systematic review of the currently available published literature, evidence is lacking for nutrition-related health effects that result from the consumption of organically produced foodstuffs."
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/92/1/203.long

rufydoofyM

***cupcake*** wrote: »

Hello all!

Has anyone any suggestions for decent meat? I can't afford to feed my meat eaters organic all of the time - free range is my ideal but finances just don't allow it sadly.

I'm not happy with current suppliers and I really would like to know any top tips for good quality, British meat.

P.s. (no local butcher or ocado )

Can you get Riverford deliveries ?
I've found their beef brisket better value than the supermarket non organic beef. Works out at only £7.65 a kilo (£9.95 for 1.3 kg) and good as a pot roast or diced for stews. The min order for meat is £25 if you ordered 3 and could freeze it then this might help.

Fire_Fox

Edwardia wrote: »

Call me squeamish, but personally I would not want to be eating an animal liver because the liver deals with all the toxins or the kidneys as I'd rather avoid something which filters animal urine ewww but lamb's hearts on the other hand can be totally yummy ditto oxtail and tongues mmm.

More and more fish on sale at fish counters and in fishmongers is farmed, these days. Salmon, sea bass, sea bream, tilapia, river cobbler, shrimps, prawns and oysters are usually farmed. Comparatively few cod, halibut, tuna and turbot are farmed.

Fish labelling laws were tightened in 2012 so if a fish is packaged it should tell you where it was fished or farmed. For fresh fish on fish counters you may have to ask.

How odd, I would have imagined you conjuring up a fabulous liver pate. Liver metabolising toxins and drugs (some not all) is only a modest part of its role and they should be filtered out as fast as they are filtered in IYSWIM, they should not be stored or they would destroy the tissue (think hepatitis, cirrhosis or fois gras _pale_).

The liver also plays a key role in immune cell production, manufactures or converts nutrients, so is a great source of most B group vitamins, vitamin A, haem iron, selenium and copper
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/666/2
Duck liver can be found free range or organic has a slightly different nutrition profile
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/782/2
Liver comes out really well for pesticide residues (click on full list), when you would imagine it would be the total opposite
http://www.pan-uk.org/archive/Projects/Food/residues.html


ETA liver was tested again each quarter of 2011, did very well for pesticides except New Zealand lambs liver interestingly (9 of the 11 samples with pesticide residues, from a total of 108 samples).
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/Resources/CRD/PRiF/Q2_2011_Report.pdf
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/Resources/CRD/PRiF/Q4_2011_report.pdf
Apparently "Residues of DDT were found in 4 samples of lambs’ liver from New Zealand. It was all in the form of p,p-DDE, indicating that the residues were from usage of DDT some time ago. The levels found are in line with those detected previously in New Zealand lamb. New Zealand has comparatively high background levels of DDT in the environment from historical use, so finding low levels of DDT in food from New Zealand is not unusual. Although DDT is banned or heavily restricted in many countries, including New Zealand, residues of DDT and p,p-DDE take a long time to break down in the environment and can accumulate in fatty tissues. Its use was banned across the EC by the 1980s." :eek: