Healthy lifestyle, healthy eating, sustainable crops, natural manure, Local Food vs. Organic Food… So many topics that we debate on a daily basis! What is wrong or right? Bla-bla-bla! At Attitude Organic, we are talking about what you MUST do, we are are not ordering. We just want to share opinions, balance pros and cons and help you in choosing what is better for you. Our aim it to support you during your transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Whatever the speed or the new habits you wish to adopt, we wish to offer you knowledge so you can make a smart choice.
This is the approach we adopted in this article: Local food vs organic food. Let’s review the terms together and highlight you on what works the best according to your own lifestyle and sustainable priorities. keep reading to find your OWN right answer!
Definition time!
Before weighing Local food vs Organic Food, let’s step back and define the terms.
Local food
According to the CPRE:
‘local food’ is that the product should be produced within 30 miles of where it is sold.
Even though the definition is broadly argued and debated, we will acknowledge that definition as the most official. To read further about different theories and arguments, you may refer to that study from a Cultural and Production Research Group at the University of Leicester.
Organic food
The Soil Association Certification is the most important organic certification body in the UK. It defines organic food. When a food producer (whatever it is) applies to be organic certified, it needs to fill 95% of the criteria set up by Soil Association.
Those criteria cover all the aspects of the food production and manufacturing, storage and sales. They inspect everything from packaging to animal welfare (To all vegan readers, my apologies but that is the official definition). They of course ban all harmful food additives, such as GMOs and Pesticides.
You may read the full list of standards here.
So Local food vs Organic Food: what’s the difference? Long story short, local food is produced close from where you buy it (reducing shipping pollution) while organic is guaranteed without harmful chemicals (but can be imported).
Local food vs organic food
As explained in our introduction the choice is yours! We explain below the pros and cons of both sides and you opt for the one that suites you the best! To make it even more easy to understand we made a table for you!
| Benefits | Drawbacks | |
|---|---|---|
| Local Food | Fresh & Seasonal Supporting local businesses Reduce emissions by cutting off shipping Better understanding of what you buy More vitamins as there is no freezing | Almost no chemicals So it is healthier & better for environment (during growing) Taste not impacted by GMOs & Chemicals |
| Organic Food | Potential pesticides & additives Less choice as you rely on Seasonal Food | Can be imported from far So bad impact on environment Could be harder to find. You may refer to our vegan supermarket list as a start. (they do organic too!) |
Hope you have a better understanding of the situation and that we gave you food for thought. Let us know what’s the best for you in comments! xx
This article is written by Marine Leclerc, the founder of that website. She owns all copyrights!
