TASTE
Consumer surveys have
shown that as many as 43% of organic consumers give 'better taste' as a major
reason for purchasing organic food
Australian Organic
Journal, Issue 60, 2004-2005
Apples
A comparative study conducted by researchers at
the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Switzerland found that
organically grown apples were of higher quality than conventionally grown
apples with respect to parameters that relate to health and taste (taste score,
sugar-acidity-firmness index, nutritional fiber content, phenolic compounds
content, and "vitality index" according to picture-grading methods
for holistic quality assessment)
"Are organically grown apples tastier and healthier? A comparative
field study using conventional and alternative methods to measure fruit
quality," F.P. Weibel, R. Bickel, S. Leuthold, and T. Alfoldi), Acta Hort.
517: 417-427 (2000).
Certified organic chickens - why do they taste
so much better?
They live a more natural life.
- An intensive chicken
lives just 36 days, growing unnaturally rapidly
in a world of artificial lighting, growth-promoting antibiotic-laced
food and water, and possibly genetically
modified feed.
- Certified Organic
chickens grow at a slower, natural rate, living roughly twice as long as
intensively farmed chickens.
- Certified organic
chickens eat certified organic feed, grown in a way that avoids the use of
chemical fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. A German study in 1989 showed how chickens
fed organic feed are much healthier than chickens fed conventional feed.
In the wild, jungle fowl - the ancestors
of modern hens - live in small groups, and each group has a regular roosting
and foraging area. Certified organic standards require that chickens are allowed to live a more natural
life - use of artificial lighting to accelerate growth is prohibited, maximum
allowable stocking densities are lower than in intensive systems, the
chickens must have open access to
pasture, where they spend around 85% of their time, no synthetic yolk
colourants are allowed, and routine antibiotics and beak trimming are
prohibited.
Clive Wylie is one of Australia's
leading certified organic chicken farmers. He says, "We use a holistic system
aimed at maximising the overall wellbeing of the bird, not simply relying on antibiotics. The longer life with a more natural growth
rate allows the flavour to properly develop in an organic chicken. You can
taste the difference.
"Having
tried an organic chicken, I'll never eat a 'normal' chicken again. The taste is
far superior and you know you're not eating some diseased bird that was kept
alive with drugs."
Dean Merlo, Brisbane-based gastronome and coffee
guru
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