Study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic food

[Bring4th_Austin]

"Organic" in the USA, as far as meat goes, has nothing to do with the way the animal was killed except for that the facilities and utensils used when the animal is killed must be sanitized under organic standards, same standards as with cleaning and transporting organic veggies.

Otherwise, organic meat animals must be fed an all organic diet, meaning their food must be certified organic and contain no animal byproducts. They also cannot have consumed antibiotics within their lifetime, though you must treat an animal with antibiotics if it gets sick. You cannot neglect an animal who is sick in order to sell its meat as organic, otherwise you could lose your certification. You must treat the animal and then sell it as non-organic or find another purpose for it. There are other requirements that deal with both species and environment conservation, and humane treatment requirements which make it better than non-organic meat as far as emotional health of the animal throughout its lifetime, but still probably not ideal depending on your personal ethical standpoint.

I think that both the emotional well-being of the animal as well as its diet affect the nutrition of their meat. There's lots of information about the nutrition of grass-fed beef vs. grain-fed beef, for example. I also think that the "emotional well-being" of the plant, or whatever analog the plant has for emotional well-being, has an affect on its health benefits for us as well.

The issue with "organically grown" is more complex though. The actual nutrition of the vegetable probably has more to do with organic standards of the soil it is grown it, the fertilizers used, etc. You can spray a very light and relatively safe synthetic pesticide (safe compared to some organic certified pesticides) on crops once and it would not be certifiable organic, but I'm sure the nutritional content of the crop would be the same as certified organic. I have no doubt that it is the synthetic fertilizers used in dead soil which creates a disparity in the nutrition. Soil is a complex organism and the way that plants draw nutrients from the soil is an intricate process.