food in bribane:

Organic food in Brisbane and Environs - Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Toowoomba

Organic markets, restaurants, food stores, CSA.

It is now well recognised that organic fruit and vegetables are much better for us than non-organic produce. If price and availability were not a problem, the majority of people would buy and consume organic food. When we look at the long term cost of purchasing and eating organic food we can see that it is the cheap option. Eating non-organic food will lead to ill-health with medical costs that will be far greater than the price of healthy eating. It is not only the monetary cost we have to consider. Good health and vitality lead to economic productivity and social fulfilment. We cannot put a cost on this benefit of healthy, organic eating. There are several different ways we can buy organic produce and food.

Throughout Australia in general, and Brisbane and environs in particular, there are a growing number of organic markets, restaurants, and food outlets. Australians are now starting to embrace community supported agriculture (CSA) and this has led to greater availability of organic produce, with lower prices to the consumer and higher returns to the producer.

We can be sure that fruit, vegetables and packaged food and restaurant food is organic only if it has organic certification. Certified organic produce means that not only has it been organically grown, but that it has been harvested, prepared and transported via systems and processes that guarantee the product is not contaminated by synthetic chemicals and that it is not irradiated. This guarantee is in the labelling as certified organic with the registration number and certifying body's name. The Organic Federation of Australia has information on organic produce and the labels of certification.

Australian Certified Organic (ACO) is accredited to certify organic operations in Australia, Europe, Japan, USA, Switzerland, and the UK. Currently ACO certifies approximately 55 percent of the Australian organic industry.

The Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) is Australia's largest representative organic body, and has been working on policy and the organic industry development since 1988.

If produce or food is labelled biodynamic it means the food has been grown organically using principles of Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. In this farming system, special composts, specific preparations and plan activators are used in accordance with those principles.