Organic Versus Naturally Raised Versus Natural: The Differences.

The USDA And FDA Have Definitions That May Be Different From Yours.

Organically gown: what does it mean anymore.  Since the government has seen fit to become involved, mostly because of lobbying on the part of large corporations and others who have a bottom line motive, many things have changed.  Organically grown used to mean the item was grown locally or at the most regionally.  Now, with multinational corporations involved, it may mean the item has come from halfway around the world.  It may also mean that if the methods to grow the item organically are/were not available at the time the item was being grown, the item may have been grown using chemicals, pesticides, petrochemical based fertilizers and other non-organic methods.  As has been seen with other items from China, not everyone’s definition of “Organic” may be the same.

Organically grown produce may not be all you think it is.  Unless the item is picked at peak ripeness, it doesn’t have time to complete its cycle and many of the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and sugars, don’t have time to develop.  Incomplete development of the foods we eat means incomplete nutrition.  But, if the item is picked ripe and then shipped across country(ies), it will be nothing more than mush by the time it reaches the supermarket.  The healthy human body doesn’t require huge amounts of nutrients everyday, just a complete spectrum of nutrients on an ongoing basis and supplements can’t take the place of Nature. 

The further away we get from natural, the harder it is for the body to recognize what the item is.  When the nutrient is removed from the source, processed, standardized, etc., many natural chemical reactions are lost.  As has been stated in many of my other articles, many B vitamin supplements are products of activated sewer sludge (check it out) and not the same as natural sources. 

It’s possible to get nutritionally complete and balanced produce if we grow our own or buy from someone who grows the item in a sustainable and therapeutic manner.  I borrowed the words sustainable and therapeutic from others. Most of those involved in independent food research, not funded by someone with a vested interest, contend that the foods most of us eat, even organic, are not therapeutic.  If it’s not grown in a sustainable manner, it’s necessary to resort to chemical and pharmaceutical based methods.       

Naturally raised and natural, using the interpretation of the USDA, don’t mean the same thing.  Natural beef, poultry, pork, fish, etc., using the USDA guidelines means, “During processing, nothing synthetic is ever added to the meat, including preservatives, and the product is only minimally processed.”  Those guidelines don’t prohibit the use of antibiotics, growth hormones or animal byproducts during the raising or any other preprocessing stages of production.

Naturally raised beef, etc., comes from animals raised without antibiotics, added growth hormones or animal byproducts. If the animal becomes sick and requires antibiotics to survive, under naturally raised guidelines, the animal is supposed to be removed from the herd, flock, pen, etc. and placed in with the natural or feedlot animals. 

Animals that nurse, if naturally raised, spend the first part of their lives nursing from their mothers, which provides the necessary antibodies as intended by nature.  The same is true of humans, but one wouldn’t think so from the information put out by those involved in the baby formula and pharmaceutical industry. 

Usually, naturally raised beef, etc., costs more.  It takes longer for the animal to reach a certain weight, most producers are stewards of the land and that requires putting something back and not just taking, taking, taking until the land is so depleted they have to move on or resort to feedlots.  Some animals are sold to others at a reduced price because the animal isn’t up to the naturally raised standards required.  Those animals can be classified as natural and whatever goes in the door at the slaughterhouse can end up on your table.  We can’t blame it on the supermarket because final responsibility lies with us the consumer.  If we want easier and better access to higher quality foods, we need to let it be known.