Organic Meat & Fish

There are many benefits of eating organic meat and fish, both to oneself, and to the environment. Organic food and organic farming really are the best options for a happy and healthy future.

With organic food in general, food that has not been grown or produced with the aid of fertilisers and pesticides, is better for the human body, as these chemicals from non-organic food do slowly accumulate within the body and its organs like the liver, kidneys, and the blood system, and can cause long-term damage. There is evidence that children and growing infants in particular can suffer from toxins and chemicals in the body – even in small amounts – acquired from regular food and drink.

Meat and fish that is reared non-organically, is subject to regular injections of antibiotics and other chemicals, which remain in the meat once the animal has been slaughtered and prepared for consumption. In addition to injections, chemicals including colouring for farmed salmon are given to the animals throughout their short lives in the food they eat.

In both the short and the long term, the local environment suffers with the continued use of chemicals in non-organic farming. Soil becomes denuded and slowly poisoned.

The main organic certifying body in the UK, the Soil Association, specify that land that a farmer wishes to convert to organic farming, must go through a 7 year conversion process. This shows how much chemical poison could be in the land, and how much cleansing it needs.

As well as land for animals farmed non-organically, and large coastal areas given to non-organic fish farms, large areas of land must be set aside to grow food for animals. This is a contentious environmental issue.

In general, animals reared organically are given a healthier life, and treated much more humanely. Farmers who raise animals organically often abide by principles of compassionate animal care and treatment, and farm their animals less intensively. This means that chickens farmed organically would have access to the outside, be able to roam freely within its shed, and not be caged for all of its life, as battery farmed non-organic chickens sadly are.

Equally, cattle raised for organic meat production, will also have far better conditions and better quality food than animals that are raised non-organically.

Short of becoming a vegetarian or even a vegan, eating both meat and fish that has been raised organically is better both for the consumer and the environment in general.

Take a test: buy both organic and non-organic meat products, either a chicken, or a joint of beef. Cook them both and gather friends and family round to taste the difference.

Once people have tasted organic products, they usually commit to buying only organic in future. This goes for both organic meat and fish, and organic fruit and vegetables and other food products. There is often a higher price for organic meat, as well as other organic food: this reflects the true cost of producing better quality food, and gives a more realistic price to the producer, rather than supermarket discounted prices.