Do you buy 'Bio'?

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1
Since I have been here I have been trying to buy as much bio products as possible because that is what I did when I was in Australia. Do you do the same?

2
I tried some Bio wine from the coop a few months ago (our ex neighbours only drink, and eat Bio products) and it was very nice.

3
Yeah the Migros Bio range is actually amazing. I love it!

4
I buy "Bio" organic stuff whenever I can.

Don't mind the cost if the quality is good (it isn't always, though!)

You need a gold card to shop in our local "Bio Laden" but as most of the stuff is locally grown or home-made, it's worth it.

5
Imho "Bio" is only a price-targeting strategy, the target being the client. Basically, it is the same product which is differently packaged and labeled. The scope is to maximize the seller profits.

The same goes for "Fair Trade" and other labels. The seller doesn't know how much one is willing to pay for a product. The price is here the advertising mechanism and the label, in this case "bio" and this package make the difference (you can't have two prices for the same product) . There is quite a bit of literature on this topic.

6
I used to shop in Woolies (Woolworths) back in SA... but here Migros, COOP and hell no difference

7
I prefer to buy local produce. I can't see how Bio products transported from abroad can be better for you.

I *always* check the product origion and try to buy only what is in season. Only Swiss eggs for me and nothing from the US that uses radiation to preserve fruits.

I don't eat supermarket meat either. Too many bone splints and grissle hidden under the packaging labels. My local butcher is cheaper and loads better.

8
Yeah I have been trying to buy as much as possible from the local markets on Tuesday and Saturday.

I have noticed some stands are bio and some are not. Because I don't speak German yet I am not able to ask them the difference but is it better to buy from the bio sellers at the markets or is it much of a muchness?

9
No, lah. My poor Third World mind only very recently got over the shock of the prices of normal produce. Bio stuff is out of my league. I do try to buy local whenever possible though.

10
In the case of bio meat it only relates to how the animal was reared (within their bio criteria). Once it's slaughtered it is treated as the other, cheaper meat.

Buy some diced bio veal or beef and fry it in a pan then marvel about how much water comes out of it - there is a lot!

Then you end up with tough meat because effectively it has been steamed rather than fried. Total con.

11
This pretty much explains my approach too. I have to say when I do buy organic, it doesn't taste better than locally grown stuff so the taste between organic and non bio doesn't work for me. What I can say is that the stuff I grow myself certainly lasts longer but that's because it's fresher. The other question is, even if bio is more nutritious and safer than non organic, do we eat enough of the stuff to make any real difference at the margin. And unless you are isolated from all external pollution and don't ingest anything with additives, is any benefit offset by other lifestyle factors?

12
Good points there, Nev.

I think organic beef tastes better than non-organic and is more tender, but this is only my experience.

Also bio carrots - much sweeter.

13
I buy bio from COOP or Migros, I find vegetable specially cauliflower and carrots more tender and better taste. However, could not make out much difference for the mushrooms so I do not buy bio mushrooms.

14
I buy fruits and vegetables Saturday's at the market in Luzern.

The vegetables taste much fresher compared to Coop and Migros.

15
Good point about the freshness. That's what I was meaning to say. Local produce has got to be fresher than something transported half way accross the world.

At my son's last Krippe one parent would bring in jars of Bio Hipp baby food because the food made food on the premises from local produce was non-bio.

16
We do buy BIO whenever we can, not for any percieved health benefits (although we would always rather eat food that is not covered with chemicals) but because we want to encourage farmers to grow BIO. Two of our neighbours are BIO farmers and we buy veal, lamb and goat direct from them. I agree though that buying local produce is just as important (except for cheese that is )

17
I think the taste is a completely personal cathegory, unrelated to the health benefits, haha, albeit important...

I have had some bio ground beef and minced pork, it is alright if cooked well but tastewise, it stank. I wonder if it is only nice when completely fresh and not packed in plastic. Or, maybe it is only our local stores, who knows. Does anybody know if there are local sausage makers who do not put "flavor enhancers" or msg in sausages and klobasas? The local butchers seem to do it with every one of them I bought, I probably just buy the wrong stuff.

I read this last year, I found it interesting despite the questionable source http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737389/page/2/ . I do not completely buy the whole organic hype, it is so trendy I am sure market abuses people's willingness to be good and ecological (and having cash...I wonder what the economical crisis will do to people's trendiness).

I actually prefer the big stores stuff lately, since I know the local control of regional produce can easily "smuggle" few heavy metals here and there, pesticides etc. Centralized testing in my home land with strict limits seems to act much faster, so I assume it is the same way here, I might be completely naieve though. I agree with the PPs idea of local, non imported, seasonal produce, so I try to buy local stuff in the big stores, it is also cheaper than farmers, we can afford it. Swiss apples are so good, I totally obsess about them, I only wonder how much they have been sprayed.

Cosmetics I am more worried about lately, since it is applied daily, often on large area of body surface and contains huge amounts of binding agents, toxic parfums, etc..So I do without the aluminum in deodorants, thankfully do not have to dye my hair, avoid american sized multivitamin pills and other supplements, chose to vax in individual, spread apart doses, avoid toxic home cleaners and pointless air fresheners and anything that evaporates, etc.

Sorry for some serious hijacking..

18
When I read the OP's question, I thought of the same MSNBC article as you, MusicChick. Here's a link that gives a bit more information:

http://www.deliciousorganics.com/Con...optobuyorg.htm

After hearing about how they had to replace the school desks in Holland because this generation of students are larger due to consuming the growth hormones in milk, I always buy organic milk, yogourt, etc. I'm not sure if this story is an urban legend, but I "feel" better drinking bio milk.

If you need encouragement to eat organic beef in the States or to become a vegetarian, then I recommend reading the novel, My Year of Meats. http://www.amazon.com/My-Year-Meats-...6774742&sr=8-1

19
Then you obviously have no experience of bio versus non-bio farms or farming methods, especially with regards to animal rearing and welfare.

(But you did at least say 'imho' )

20
I detect cynicism and distrust in many of these posts. Surely anyone looking at the cost comparisons are only fooling themselves: there's a reason why the non-organic food is cheaper.

My 98 year old Grandmother - raised on a farm, never been ill in her life - wonders why non-Bio food isn't labelled as such. Surely she's right.

"This food is not Bio, but hey, it's 12% cheaper"

Food should be expensive. Most of us are spoilt on excessive consumption, especially concerning food. We even manage to throw 30% of it away, yet we say Bio is expensive! Weird.

We blindly follow the price of things and rarely the value. It is possible to live happily on a Bio / Organic diet, even on a low budget. One learns to economise. Millions of generations before us managed.

I doubt there's much mileage in taste, though. Fresher, unpolluted produce is certainly going to make a difference, but not to the average Joe.

Once again, the public gets what the public wants, which is low prices - oh and I'll have a free carrier bag while I'm at it.

Every purchase one makes is a political decision. Shame we're not educated more on these themes, but it ain't as sexy as a free child's toy and bigger, juicier burgers...

Political movements are never top-down. It takes grass-roots support - as in, you doing something about it - which causes momentum and eventual political shift.

Still, I'm alright, Jack