The Truth About Bio-Products: We Choose For a Healthy Lifestyle

Today, bio-products are gaining popularity, as a healthy lifestyle has more and more fans every year, and people begin to think about what they eat. This is especially important when it comes to children, because they are especially sensitive to nitrates, salts of heavy metals, genetically modified organisms and artificial additives. What you need to know in order not to make a mistake in choosing and buy the “right” products for yourself and your child? 

We are used to the fact that real organic products can only be found among imported ones, but now the situation has changed. Now real organic products are produced in Russia. But not every package with the logo "bio" or "organic" contains truly organic milk or organic potatoes. What is the difference between bioorganic products and their usual “colleagues”, what are the requirements for them and how to identify them on store shelves?

Raw Material Requirements:

Vegetables, fruits, cereals, which can be classified as bioorganic, should be grown in ecologically clean areas without the use of mineral fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, chemical insecticides. If we talk about livestock products, then animals should grow in natural conditions, on natural feeds without antibiotics, hormones, growth regulators and appetite.

According to experts, about 40 million hectares are suitable for organic farming in Russia, in particular, abandoned farmland in the Yaroslavl and Vladimir regions, which no one has fertilized or plowed for 10 years. It is not surprising that it was on these lands that the first Russian farms appeared, which practice organic farming and animal husbandry.

Plants in such farms are looked after only by natural methods. For example, they fight harmful insects and microorganisms with the help of their natural enemies: for example, trioderm saprophyte fungus copes well with phytophthora, hay sticks, May beetle larvae, bear cub and wireworm destroy entomopathogenic fungi, and the Colorado beetle - radiant mushroom. Based on these and other microorganisms, many non-toxic organic preparations have been created. In addition, they fight pests by attracting beneficial insects. The same Colorado potato beetle has more than 600 enemies in nature.

Soil fertility is not supported by mineral fertilizers, but by plants that enrich the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients. They are grown before sowing the main crops. In addition, the composition of the soil is improved with conventional rain or red California worms that produce vermicompost. Biohumus improves soil properties, reduces the effects of toxic elements and inhibits weed growth.

And to be considered organic meat, milk and dairy products. Animals must be kept in loose housing, eat, drink and graze in the wild as they wish. They should have free space (there are strict standards for square meters) so that it can easily move. Cattle ailments are treated with herbal medicine and homeopathy.

If an animal has to be given antibiotics or hormones, it is excluded from the “bio” population.

Organic Product Differences:

Equally stringent requirements, ranging from the quality of water, which is washed bottles and milk ducts, and ending with packaging, are presented to the processing of bioorganic raw materials. That is why bioorganic products differ from usual ones in taste, in the content of useful substances, and sometimes in name. Their taste is saturated and pronounced, it will certainly seem unusual to an inexperienced eater. Moreover - the taste of bio-organic dairy products may vary depending on the season. In winter, when instead of grass, cows eat silage, milk will be more fat, in summer - more liquid.

As for the content of nutrients, organic tomatoes have more lycopene, natural apples have more flavonoids, which have an antitumor effect. Organic peaches and pears have a higher antioxidant content.

Bioorganic milk undergoes only gentle pasteurization - at a temperature of 68-70 ° C, in order to maintain maximum nutrients. For this reason, in such a product, omega-3 fatty acids are 3-4 times more than in milk from a cow grown industrially. After all, even at 80 ° C, calcium salts are destroyed in milk.

Organic milk is tested on at least 40 parameters!

Recently, a new product has appeared on store shelves - ugurt. So the manufacturer had to call bioorganic yogurt. According to GOST, at least 9% of milk powder must be added to this product, but such yogurt cannot be called bioorganic! At the eco-factory, we developed our own recipe, without any additives and powdered milk. Since such a product does not meet the requirements of GOST, I had to come up with a special name - Ugurt (in the city of Uglich, where the plant is located).