-Lanc*»ter Farming, Saturday, March 8, 1975
22
Questions and Answers on Health Foods
Whnt's the story on health
foods'' As their popularity
has increased, so have the
questions about them.
What exactly arc health
foods and where do they
come from? Do they cosl
more than the standard fare
and are they actually better
for you’ Arc there legal
checks on health food
claims.’
It’s tough to come up with
solid answers. The rise of
health foods was so sudden
that research on the subject
lags behind public interest.
There is either scant in
formation or outright
disagreement on health
.'oods' definition, cost, and
quality, and on regulation by
the Government.
Health foods have been on
the market for decades, but
at this time it is still hard to
find a working definition for
the term “health food,” or a
good estimate of the size of
the market.
“Everybody eats food for
their health,” says one food
specialist with the USDA’s
Economic Research Service.
“You wouldn’t intentionally
eat anything that isn’t
healthy, would you?”
He would prefer less
general terms, like
“natural” or “organic,” but
even then you run into
definition problems.
Within the health food
industry, “natural” pertains
to foods that have no ad
ditives. “Organic” is more
precise-it refers to foods
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that not only have no ad
ditives, but arc also grown
without chemical fertilizers
or pesticides.
Congress and the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)
have tried for years to draft
legislation to set standards
for the labeling of organic
foods, but they've been
slowed by controversy over
what the term really means.
Some food industry people
fear that a federally ap
proved "organic" label on a
food item might imply
superiority, which, they
stress, is not necessarily the
case.
For better or worse, there
is no question that health
food sales have soared in the
past decade. USDA ob
servers estimate that the
market has jumped about
100 percent in 10 years.
But the health food market
is still too small, they say, to
warrant extensive study.
How small? Again, definition
is an added problem. If
health food sales include
those by the many new
vitamin stores, the industry
claims about S percent of the
total food market.
Disregarding vitamins,
guesses drop to 1 to 3 per
cent.
Some USDA observers
think that the health food
surge is leveling off. They
cite the rising cost of foods in
general,- saying that con
sumers can’t afford the
higher price of health foods.
A spokesman for the
Bunk Feeders
Liquid Manure Tanks
Hodalc I’rcss in Penn- estimates that including the
sylvania, a leader in the part-timers there are about
health food Industry, 10.000 organic farmers,
disagrees. He asserts that Organic farmers use only
the popularity of health foods natural, rather than
will continue to mount. He chemical, fertilizers. They
says that farmers arc fin- believe this yields healthier,
ding less expensive ways to tastier crops. The farmers
grow organically, so organic say they jire finding natural
food prices will not rise as pesticides that arc less
rapidly as regular foods. dangerous, more effective,
He estimates that there and less costly than syn
are between 3,000 to 3,500 thetic ones.
health food stores in the U.S., As an alternative to DDT
but that the vast majority and other chemical
specialize in vitamins "with pesticides, organic farmers
some food on the side.” But recommend the use of
he adds that the number of beneficial insects to prey on
stores selling only natural harmful ones, insect traps,
and organic foods is on the interplanting, and insect
upswing. diseases.
For the most part, these For example, sprinkling
stores get their products the powder of the “milky
from small farmers who spore disease” in the ground
raise all their food near crops is said to be a safe
organically--or claim to. and effective way of com-
Some big farmers do some bating Japanese beetles,
organic farming on the side. Introduction of certain
The man from Rodale pest-eating insects is
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626-7766
Let one of these Sperry New Holland dealers show you
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regarded as considerably
effective. I-adybugs, for
example, arc voracious
caters of aphids. And the
praying mantis will gobble
down just about any harmful
insect.
Some organic fanners use
insect traps that are as
simple as a hanging cup of
molasses and glue, or as
sophisticated us electric
lights that attract and
electrocute night-flyers.
Though natural pesticides
may cost less than chemica
types, natural fertilizer is
generally more expensivt
than the chemicals. This,
and the higher production
costs of a farmer dealing in
small quantities, drives up
the cost of organic foods.
A special science advisor
to the Secretary of USDA
reported last April that
health food prices were
ranging from one-third to 2
times higher than regular
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HOLLAND
L. H. Brubaker
350 Strasburg Pike
Lancaster, PA
397-5179
101 S Lime St
Quarryville, PA
786-2895
supermarket foods. She has
doubts about the relative
value of organic foods.
"Crops produced with the
help of chemical fertilizer:
arc equal nutritionally to
crops produced by the
•organic’ means.” she
believes.
She reasons that it makes
no difference whether a
fertilizer is organic or
chemical since all elements
essential to plant growth
enter in the inorganic form.
She says of organically
grown foods; "There is
nothing intrinsically safe
about nature."
She cautions that "safe use
of pesticides is a must."
According to her, the risk
from -bacterial con
tamination of foods is worse
than the risk of consuming
pesticide residues or food
additives.
Determining whether food
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