Organic baby food is good for your baby and planet; it is kind to our animals and wildlife and choosing organic baby food allows consumers to make a big difference - simply through the way you shop. With all these benefits, it's easy to see why organic food delivers such good value for money.
Choosing Organic Baby Food is Better for the Planet
Amazingly, over 20% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions today come from food and farming. Nitrogen fertiliser manufacturing is the worst offender. To produce just one tonne takes one tonne of oil, seven tonnes of greenhouse gasses and one hundred tonnes of water. Organic farmers work with nature to feed the soil and control pests.
By putting less stress on the environment, organic is a more sustainable choice, especially as around 30% of the average consumer's carbon 'footprint' comes from their food choices. By choosing organic baby food - you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
Organic Baby Food is Better for Your Baby
Organic baby foods have higher amounts of beneficial minerals, essential amino acids and vitamins than other baby foods. Organic baby food avoid pesticides and all controversial additives including aspartame, tartrazine, MSG and hydrogenated fats. Organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants and Omega 3.
International studies find that organic plant products contain more anti-oxidants such as phenols and salicylic acid, known to protect against cancer and heart disease. The same studies also show that organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which also help to protect against heart disease.
Organic Baby Foods are Kind to Animals
Animal welfare is at the heart of organic food systems. Organic food standards for meat and animal products rigorously protect all aspects of animal wellbeing - from rearing, feeding and shelter, to transportation and slaughter. Organic animals are free to pursue natural behaviour because they have plenty of outside space to thrive and grow, and are not routinely drugged with antibiotics. Organic standards prohibit cruelty and guarantee truly free-range lives for farm animals.
Many shoppers don't realise that organic meat and animal products are also free range. Where Ulula baby foods contain eggs and meat the organic certification symbol guarantees you that the animals have been reared to the highest level of free-range standards. Birds are looked after in much smaller flocks, spend most of their lives roaming outside on fresh grass and have much more space in their houses.
Buying Organic Baby Food Encourages Wildlife
The UK Government's own advisors found that plant, insect and bird life is up to 50% greater on organic farms. Organic farming relies on wildlife to help control natural pests, so wide field edges are left uncultivated for bugs, birds and bees to flourish. They are also not sprayed away by the fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides routinely used on non-organic farms.
Organic Baby Foods are Guaranteed GM Free
Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are banned under organic standards. Shoppers wanting to avoid GM products may be surprised to know that over a million tonnes of GM crops are imported each year to feed non-organic livestock, which in turn supply our supermarkets with pork, bacon, milk, cheese and other dairy products.
Is there really a better place to think about the environment than at the table where a mother feeds her baby? Every mouthful we feed to our babies is a vote for, or against, the planet and the survival of future generations. Let me know your thoughts and experiences.
