Do you buy your bananas organic?

I thought all bananas were organic. Are you saying it's possible to get them from mines?

Richard

 

Once you hit 50, the last thing you need is the ton of carbs that bananas provide. I get my potasium in pills ... and the pills are not organic.


.

 

I buy organic whenever possible not because of the pesticides 'n crap (although that's a plus) and not because it's healthier (it's not), but because it reduces chemical runoff into the water.

But I rarely buy bananas anyway, so that particular one isn't an issue for me.

 

Bananas are about my favourite food, though I seldom buy organic ones. I probably should, though. When Tropical Race Four wipes out all the Cavendish, I'm not sure what I'll do.

 

I don't buy organic for stuff that needs to be peeled.

 

Bananas are not on the "Dirty Dozen" list.

I will buy organic if the price is relatively close to not organic, and if the organic bananas are ripe/not rotted or too green. Conventional bananas often are too green, or too green with already rotting spots. Ewwww.

 

I was on an Eco tour in Costa Rica where the organizers hired a local native as a guide. He really wanted us (big city tourists) to buy organic bananas. It was not an issue of our health, but the treatment of the land he called home. I think the issue with bananas is monoculture growing as opposed to growing them among other species.

The organic bananas at Trader Joe's tend to be larger than the conventional ones. At $0.19 per conventional banana, and $0.29 for organic, the extra dime certainly isn't going to make a noticeable difference in my grocery bills.

 

I never thought of comparing bananas to cable service before.

 

We are conscious about pretty much everything that we buy and do purchase a lot of organic veggies and fruits, but don't generally buy organic bananas for the same reason that Rae Vynn mentioned in that they are usually green and/or spotted.

 

Call me a skeptic, but I believe foreign vegetable and animal products, especially those from Third World countries, are still chemically or bacterially suspect. Pesticides and biologicals never approved as well as those subsequently banned in the USA are unfortunately still being applied to crops destined for this country and misapplied chemicals, especially systemics, may find their way into these fruits and vegetables.

Aquacultural products from foreign sources may be environmentally or intentionally contaminated, depending upon where and how they were grown with regard to their own respective monitoring and regulatory efficacies. Even random sampling protocols utilized by our gov't and grocery chain-contracted labs can miss or omit testing these residual contaminants because some of these agents are not now nor ever were on our inventory of materials approved for domestic agricultural applications.

I do think our federal inspection situation is slowly improving with the current administration but still has a very long way to go if we are to truly expect 'clean' imports. Progress is being made in offshore cooperative inspection programs. Trusting that any exotic product labeled as 'organic' actually meets all our own domestic organic crop regs is still a bridge too far for me.

That said, we don't routinely buy organic bananas nor many other organics because we think it's no longer necessary with our advancing age. If, on the other hand, we were a pregnant couple or parents of young children we would probably buy or home grow more organic fruits and veggies. We purchase some foreign foods and reject others depending on our level of knowledge regarding typical production methods for any specific product. Once home, we wash and/or peel all thin-skinned veggies, domestic or foreign. Caveat emptor!

 

in our household, if we gave up a YEARS worth of bananas, we could save enough money to pay for ONE of us to go to the movies. so I guess this time two years from now we'll be seeing a movie.....but it will have to be a mattinee of course.

 

This alone is reason enough to spend an extra dime here and there for organic. Why consume small amounts of poisonous pesticides when you can consume (hopefully) none at all?

 

Actually, what I said was that we usually DO buy organic bananas, as the non-organic bananas that are available to us are usually too green and/or already black rotted in spots.

If it's the other way around for you, I understand.

 

Organic produce I see is usually far more than a "dime" more costly than similar traditional produce.

The point I was trying to make about foreign-sourced bananas(or any produce) is that your chance of getting truly organic products from countries with very likely spottier regulation and enforcement than here in the U.S. is chancy at best, so "hopefully" is the operative word, all right. Rarely does a month go by without our inspectors discovering significant chemical contamination in food or drug products originating from Asia and Central America.

Your term "small amounts" is relevant too, as laboratory testing for these chemicals has progressed from the days of parts per million detection in the 70's, to parts per trillion currently, and with few exceptions, we are indeed talking about essentially inconsequential quantities from the standpoint of human health. You just might even receive more pyrethrum exposure via sniffing a chrysanthemum blossom than you would get from the surface of most any veggie you picked up at your grocery store.

I recall some years ago when the feds randomly sampled produce in organic food outlets and found that in several instances the organics actually averaged more pesticide residue than similar products from traditional grocers. Hopefully, in most state and local jurisdictions, organic certification, regulation and monitoring programs are more thorough nowadays; but I have my doubts when it comes to local farmers markets and roadside stands.

Still, when I spot big, beautiful, and totally unblemished produce in the organic section of grocery stores, red flags go up in my mind. I am also unaware of any agency which regularly monitors for possible produce contamination at the retail market level.

 

Maybe, but systemic fungicides that may possibly end up inside the banana itself in varying amounts have been widely used in the Cavendish variety plantations of Central and South America and Asia to control the devastating Panama Disease(Fusarium Wilt), which has decimated banana production in recent years.

You can Wiki or Google these terms(Panama Disease, Fusarium Wilt, banana fungicides) for the latest information.....

 

I find organic bananas have a different taste and texture. They also seem to last a little longer and stay firmer. OMG after reading that I think I may need to retype. LOL