Summary:
Organic foods usually cost more than non-organic, but sometimes the health benefits make the extra cost worthwhile. In the case of organic meats, dairy products, and eggs, the cost difference may not be as large as it appears. These fresh and flavorful organic products are packed with nutrients without traces of antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones. Your food dollars can go further because you and your family can meet everyone´s nutritional requirements with smaller portions.

Details or Sample:
You don’t have to be a starry-eyed greenie or an aging hippie with peace signs on your old VW to jump on the organic meat and dairy bandwagon. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration are lagging behind because of the undeniable need for large-scale, lower-cost food production both in the U.S. and in other countries, along with what they believe to be still-inadequate scientific studies on the superiority of organically produced foods and the remote likelihood of a sea-change in American agricultural practices, the evidence thus far of the benefits of organic meat, dairy, and egg products is very compelling.

What qualifies as organic meat, dairy, and egg products? They must meet four criteria:
• The producing animals have not been treated with antibiotics, growth hormones, or feed made from animal byproducts.
• They must have been fed organic feed for at least a year.
• They must have daily access to the outdoors to graze.
• The foods they produce cannot be genetically modified or irradiated.

Although there are several reasons for concern about foods produced by conventionally raised animals, at least two stand out as major causes for alarm: antibiotic resistance and declining nutrient levels.

Antibiotic resistance
The most urgent problem is antibiotic resistance in humans. In fact, the British Medical Association predicts that antibiotic resistance will be one of the major public health threats of the 21st century. Antibiotic resistance results from the ever-increasing ability of bacteria to survive the onslaught of traditional antibiotics that have always been the standard weapons in the arsenal against bacterial infections.

Although blame for the situation has been placed squarely on the shoulders of over-prescribing doctors and impatient patients who clamor for medicine for their illnesses, most experts are now also blaming current farming practices. Why? Because antibiotics are used extensively with entire herds and flocks of farm animals to prevent illnesses from spreading. Indeed, an Australian study has estimated that up to 60 percent of the antibiotics prescribed in that country have been for farm animals. The Mayo Clinic asserts a direct link between antibiotic use in farm animals and antibiotic resistance in humans. Even the World Health Organization has called for reduced use of antibiotics for farm animals.
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Declining nutrient levels
Official food composition tables, including data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reveal that since the 1940s the mineral levels in fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy have declined substantially in conventionally produced foods. And according to a recent British analysis of government nutrition data comparing meat and dairy products from the 1930s and from 2002, the essential mineral content of milk, cheese and beef — including magnesium, calcium, iron, and copper — declined as much as 70 percent. Some refer to these products as “hollow food.” The major side effect of a steady diet of nutrient-poor food is that people may be eating more in order to get the nutrition they need, which contributes to the rapid rise in obesity among Americans.

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