What makes organic food better?

‘Is organic food better?’ transcript. Video 2.09 mins

VISUAL: RMIT logo appears on screen

AUDIO: Upbeat music plays

VISUAL: Liza Oates - Course Co-ordinator Food as Medicine School of Heatlh and Biomedical Sciences - appears on screen with the text “What makes organic food better?’

VISUAL: Liza speaks to camera. She is situated in a kitchen, with food and appliances on the bench behind her.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: You would have seen food with an ‘organic’ label in your local supermarket, but what exactly does this label mean?

VISUAL: Organic certification label appears in animation to the right hand side and transitions into a question mark.  

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Generally speaking, organic food production is not allowed to use any synthetic chemicals. But there’s more to it than that.  

VISUAL: The camera cuts to the the food in the background, animated plants appear above the food and the text “Not allowed to use synthetic chemicals” appears.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Organic food can benefit not just the people who eat it, but the environment, the farmers and the animals themselves.

VISUAL: Animated food items appear and form the shape of a love heart. Off the love heart is listed “people” “environment” “farmers” “animals”.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Let’s start with the most important thing: your health.

Many conventional farmers use pesticides to keep bugs from damaging their crops.

Pesticides use is generally well regulated in countries like Australia, but we should remember that their purpose is to kill or disrupt the function of living organisms.

VISUAL: Background animation of pesticide use in farms.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Some studies have shown links between pesticides and cancer, behavioral and reproductive health issues and lower IQs in children.

VISUAL: Pesticide clouds in background animation turn into pink word clouds listing “cancer” “behavioural” “reproductive” and “lower IQs”.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Research conducted at RMIT University showed that pesticide levels in humans were reduced by 90% after eating a mostly organic diet for just 7 days.

VISUAL: Liza Oates speaks to camera. At her side is an animation of a man full of “pesticides” which then lower to just 10% of his body mass.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Less chemicals in your body is great, but there are also ecological reasons to eat organic.

An organic farmer uses systems designed to fit the cycles of nature and adapts to local conditions, culture and scale.

VISUAL: Background animation shows a farmer with his various plants. The text “Adapts to local conditions, culture and scale” appears on screen.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: To help protect the environment, any resources used in organic food production are minimised, reused or recycled where possible.

VISUAL: The animation continues to pan across and the words “minimised” “resused” and “recycled” appear above the plants.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS:  Animals also benefit. In Australia, organic standards dictate that a level of fairness be provided to the animal.

If you’re a pig and you naturally love to roll in mud in an open field, then that is the life that you must be able to lead in order to be classified as organic.

VISUAL: An animation of a pig appears on the side of screen before morphing into full screen and rolling around in mud.

AUDIO: Pig oinks.

VISUAL: The official organic logo appears on the animation.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: Finally, the principle of care means that the production of organic food must be undertaken in a responsible manner that protects future generations, as well as the environment.

VISUAL: The pig animation morphs into a “principle of care” certificate which is held up by two green hands.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: This protects farmers and the land they work on, keeping it useable for years to come.

VISUAL: The certificate flies away and lands in the hand of the animated farmer.

LIZA OATES SPEAKS: One word of warning though, organic is generally more expensive to produce, so look for an organic certification logo to make sure you get what you pay for.

VISUAL: Liza looks at the camera and the organic certification label appears to the right of screen. Dollar signs appear under the label and the text “organic is generally more expensive” appears.

VISUAL: RMIT logo appears on screen

AUDIO: Ambient music fades

[End of transcript]