Niche Markets

I am sure there are some true believers really hitting the ceiling today after the release of the meta-study published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition entitled "Nutritional Quality of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review".  This journal is certainly not "in the pocket" of major agri-business interest nor is the institute which conducted the analysis: The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  

Here is the money quote: “On the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods.”

I just returned from a foray into last minute food shopping for the Thanksgiving table and I am astonished at the exanding variety of choice almost everywhere in the fresh food category. In the turkey aisle there were probably 15 distinctly different choices this year from organic to frozen to fresh to injected to stuffed to stuffed with hen and duck. There was smoked turkey and turkey parts of every discription including tails in a separate pack. Yum Yum.

I started in the produce section and there were eight or nine different types of lettuce with a couple of varieties in little greenhouse boxes with roots still on them growing, five to seven types of mushrooms (some looked like the ones we were told to avoid when out hunting morrells as kids). Not just the white button ones and portabellos but all kinds of strange looking fungi.