Orfo-nomics: Making a head and tail of the cost markup

The other day a trip to a street corner organic store yielded quite a few brow raising revelations. A 10 minute chat with the store owner reeked of hypocritical treatment being doled out to those in the business of making the cleanest and safest of food. An organic food producer requires to go for extensive documentation and certifications, while a street hawker thrives and sells a pesticides laden pumpkin without an iota of administrative hassles, forget remorse. Yes, the burden of proof, in its entriety, lies on those who strive for a better world and a healthier you. That really does create quite a few entry barriers and barriers in your path of treading the organic lane.

This being one, what other things drive the cost, or rather makes it prohibitive for an individual to re engineer his food basket? Density is one reason. You need far more land to generate the same amount of organic product as compared to "non" organic. More land costs more. Takes more time to work. Labor costs are higher. And the "loss" of product to insect and disease is far greater.

Still, why does organic produce tilts the scales when you weigh it against the extra moolah you dish out? Interestingly, a four-year, $25 million European Union study raised fruits, vegetables and cows on adjacent organic and nonorganic sites at a 725-acre farm near Newcastle University in England. Researchers found organic produce contained upto 40 percent more anti oxidants, besides containing higher levels of iron, copper and zinc. As for the organic milk, it contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants. Just for the record, oxidative stress contributes to the development of a wide range of diseases including the deadly Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and most notably cardio vascular diseases.

So if growing organic foods is healthier for the farmer, the shipper, the cattle and of course the consumer, not to forget it doling a benign treatment to our soil, water and air, then don't you feel the extra cost of organic foods is a wise long-term investment? Economies of scale is the only solution I see, breaking the barriers to you going on the organic super highway. Once again, at the cost of sticking my neck out, the parity leading to a transformation from an 'initiative' to an 'imperative' shall come sooner than you think, 5 years and your 90% of the food basket shall be organic! Amen.

Wake up Call !!!

Guys!! First things first – thanks a lot for inviting me to post on this blog. Culinary Engineers – Who are we? Does this question arise in everyone’s mind? Not sure – but I do feel an introduction of us is a must. You guys might be one amongst us tomorrow and maybe you guys are one amongst us even today but maybe you have not realized. We are a set of friends/acquaintances/strangers with a common thought process. You can call us food freaks, gourmet, gourmand, foodie or anything you want. Culinary engineers are concerned about the environment, health and post data on good food and the advantages of good food. Sounds simple?

What the hell is wrong with the food I am eating right now; Oops – Apologies Mate, there is nothing wrong. Just that you might fall sick one fine day and the doctor might not be able to detect why you have been infected with such a fatal disease even if you don’t taste alcohol/tobacco/any drug for that matter. Yes, conventional food is not harmful to our systems but remember it neither harmless!!! The way these foods are grown, there is a flaw in that. Look at the farmer spraying the pesticides on the food!! Are these pesticides edible?? Can we eat them? Please read the label in each pesticide, it shows that we need to stay from that as it might be poisonous!!! Oops – Once more J. Why is our friend who is spraying pesticides on the food which we gonna eat having masks?? Why? Did any of us wonder why? At least I dint till sometime, researchers say that pesticides once dry might not be harmful! Listen to this; they say it might not be harmful. Stress the word there “MIGHT”. So, there is a possibility that it might get harmful. Yes! In some cases and it doesn’t take long for that some to become most!! Don’t u think I make sense? I feel insecticides and pesticides are certainly harmful!! Certainly! So, lets not mess with it! It is not harmful to you and me but it is harmful even to the animals, flowers, insects, in short all living beings!! How? Is this your question? You may think, how the food I eat gonna affect them? Yes! It would, I shall tell you how? Because of the environment hazards these crops might create. The world might get extinct, what is green house effect? Does this play a role in that? I guess, we need to wait till the next post to get these answers :).

Olestra - The Silver Bullet?

Imagine hogging onto a pack of delectable fries with a big gulp cola, does it reek of calories and a forbearer of the all pervasive and a nervous “hey, have I put on some..eh?” Wait a minute; did ‘He’ just listen to you? Not sure, but yes, the guys at Proctor & Gamble of course did!

Circa 1996, P&G launched Olean (generic-Olestra), the much famed no-fat cooking oil that replaces fat in preparing foods or the so called ‘fake fat’. Olestra is made by a combination of sucrose and vegetable oil, whose numerous fatty acid chains are indigestible by the human body. Therefore, it imbues potato chips with the same flavor and texture as their full-fat cousins but diminishes the guilt factor substantially. Olestra can be used in deep-frying, and it tastes about the same as fat without the absorption of fat or calories. Obviously, this is quite an attractive prospect to chip producers, especially in the current times. P&G had a potential goldmine under its belt; it however decided to share the success with Frito Lay’s! Corporate brotherhood? we were to learn later! All shelves in US were inundated with Frito-Lay’s WOW! Chips, Procter and Gamble’s Fat Free Pringles, and Utz Brand Yes chips.

The devil lied in the details, 1996 saw P&G being granted FDA approval to use in snacks, but there was a caveat. Each pack was to carry a label: “This product contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E, and K have been added.” In documents marked "Confidential and Proprietary," Frito-Lay admits that olestra caused "anal oil leakage" in a study commissioned by the company.

Stock markets were bullish on P&G and waited with a bated breath; P&G had poured in almost a billion dollars into it and now was the time to reap on it. In the face of threat of product failure looming large, P&G decided to license it to other chip manufacturers. The sales? Their was a great interest in the product This interest came in spite of over a thousand reports of adverse side effects associated with Olestra, including severe diarrhea, fecal incontinence, and abdominal cramps. To counter these claims, Procter and Gamble hired numerous consultants and dietitians to back up the product and spent even more money on advertising. Nationwide marketing of the WOW! Chips and Fat Free Pringles began in the spring of 1998, and there was a huge initial boom in sales.

But the sales dipped quickly, the reasons for which are not difficult to comprehend either. A lot of cases were reported, an equal number would have gone unreported. It has since remained an oligopolistic market.

The Olestra-based potato chip market has garnered everything from criticism to applauds, controversy to support. Once thought to be one of the snack food industry’s biggest breakthroughs, touting of the fake-fat chips has seemingly declined along with market sales. This is most likely due to the horrible publicity Olestra has received over the years as well as to the less than appetizing label its products are forced to bear.

Alas, we would have to wait before a guilt free chip snack finds it way to your street’s departmental store. For those, who in the world surrounded by saturated, unsaturated and trans fats find their way rather cumbersome, keep hitting veggies and the fruits. That's the mantra- keep it fresh, keep it natural!

Take care!

Heads up: the Organic Undertones

Whilst your universe makes a subtle move to an organic debate and hush undertones gain momentum towards reengineering your food basket, its time to take a heads up on the organic food rationale.

Why is Mrs. Nair, Mr. Kumar, Prof. Shah suddenly talking organic food? What is it?

Well, the 'organic' label on food implies that it was produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetic engineering or irradiation. Organic foods are those foods that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals.

If you go a little deeper into the organic noise, you would hear of 'Organic Milk' and even 'Organic Meat', what does it imply? It additionally means the animal received no antibiotics or hormones and was fed organic feed containing no animal by-products.

Is the noise for real? What is wrong with the conventional crops?

The conventional crops affect lush growth by swelling produced with more water. It effectively translates to organic food having more “dry matter” (i.e. food) on a pound to pound basis. Partly because of this, there is a higher level of nutrients in organic produce. Based on the current dietary patterns, these differences can be enough to help you achieve the recommended allowances of nutrients that otherwise you may not get.

Conventional crops do not put a restrain on deploying pesticides. Though individual pesticides safety levels are set for crops, rules often do not take into account the "cocktail effect" of combinations of pesticides in and on foods.

Pesticides?? How do they affect my body system?

Israeli researchers have linked symptoms such as headaches, tremor, and lack of energy, depression, anxiety, poor memory, dermatitis, convulsions, nausea, indigestion and diarrhoea with dietary intakes of pesticides.

Belgian research has found that women diagnosed with breast cancer are six to nine times more likely to have the pesticides DDT or hexachlorobenzene in their bloodstreams compared to women who did not have breast cancer.

Hawaiian researchers following 8,000 people for 34 years have found that increasing consumption of conventional fruit and juice (and the pesticide residues they carry) raises the risk of Parkinson's disease.

..and to my kids??

Children's immature and developing organs, brains, and detoxification and immune systems, plus their larger intake of food per kilo of body weight, combine to make them even more susceptible to toxins than adults!!

But is it worth the mark up in my grocery bill?

Yes, after all organic gives you zero exposure to synthetic pesticides. Well, a 25-40% markup currently found in stores might just be a little over the tide to replace your entire food basket. A study by the Environmental Working Group of 43 fruits and vegetables shows that you can reduce your pesticide exposure from produce by up to 90 percent by avoiding the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. As the street sense would deliver, investing into organic lettuce or a carrot makes much more sense over the conventional counterparts. On the other hand you could do just fine with a conventional banana!

Also the much in news, Mad Cow disease would never have seen the light of day had the world been consuming organic meat! The sole reason of the disease was the cattle being fed upon animal by-produce.

As more and more junta wakes up and rally for their right to a better health and the demand soars the costs are bound to go down, on the volumes. And believe you me; it’ll be sooner and faster than you think!!

Is the organic produce always recommended?

No. Not necessarily. Try and go for products that are manufactured locally and organically. An organic tomato that travels a 1000 miles on a lorry to land on your plate might just be puncturing a hole in your organic dream.

..the bottom line

It’s a question of perspective, I strongly believe organic is how food should be..it’s not a luxury..it’s how food has always been..its not an option but an imperative.. Are you comfortable taking that morsel loaded with DDT, phenolic compounds, toxins..well..that’s what your beloved, your kid, your parents are in taking…. your take!