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organic foodProponents of organic food claim that it is more nutritious, safer to eat, and usually tastes better because it contains no synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, medicated feed, or antibiotics or chemicals used in food processing (see also organic farming); these claims are disputed by conventional-food growers and processors. Organic foods have become steadily more popular as the public has become more concerned about health risks associated with chemicals in food products. Organic produce is now available in many food outlets, including major supermarket chains. Organic food is generally more expensive because organic farming requires more manual labor and attention.
See D. Steinman, Diet for a Poisoned Planet (1990).
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- Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1945. Its headquarters is in Rome, and it has a number of regional, subregional, and liaison o...
- organic farming
Organic farming, the practice of raising plants—especially fruits and vegetables, but ornamentals as well—without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. In the United Sta...
- frozen foods
- food preservation
Food preservation, methods of preparing food so that it can be stored for future use. Because most foods remain edible for only a brief period of time, people since the earliest ages have expe...
- food poisoning
Food poisoning, acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all s...
- American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Orga...
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of autonomous labor unions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and U.S. dependencies, fo...
- metabolite
Metabolite, organic compound that is a starting material in, an intermediate in, or an end product of metabolism. Starting materials are substances, usually small and of simple structure, abso...
- corm
Corm, short, thickened underground stem, usually covered with papery leaves. A corm grows vertically, producing buds at the upper nodes and roots from the lower surface. Corms serve as organs ...
- digestive system
Digestive system, in the animal kingdom, a group of organs functioning in digestion and assimilation of food and elimination of wastes. Virtually all animals have a digestive system. In the ve...
- lead poisoning
Lead poisoning or plumbism, intoxication of the system by organic compounds containing lead. These enter the body by respiration (of dust, fumes, or sprays) or by ingestion of food or other su...
