Health & Wellness

In continuation of yesterday’s post:

In 2002, organic accreditation and certification was put in place by the USDA to guarantee a specific, regulated process and to prevent fraud, protecting the consumer. USDA’s organic certification upholds that qualifying food can only be produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin that is free of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, ionizing radiation and pesticides. Similarly, organic certification for animals does not allow use of growth hormones, genetic modification or the routine use of antibiotics (acceptable for treating sickness). The overall certification process is very involved, ranging from compliance of farm facilities and production methods to extensive documentation of farm history, soil and water test results. This certification process carries over for other organic operations, such as food transportation and restaurants.

U.S. federal organic legislation allows for three levels of organics:

1. “100% Organic”: all ingredients comply with organic agriculture; qualifies for USDA seal
2. “Organic”: at least 95 percent organic agricultural ingredients; qualifies for USDA seal
3. “Made with Organic (ingredients)”: 95 — 70 percent organic agricultural ingredients; does not qualify for USDA seal
4. Less than 70 percent organic ingredients; may not advertise organic claim on label; can only be mentioned in the product’s ingredient statement

More to come for this series on organics…

See ya tomorrow,
Andrew

A site visitor recently requested some information on organics, so as promised, I’m delivering on-demand information. This post is the first in a series on organics, so come back tomorrow for more — enjoy!

Everyone knows what organic means — 100 percent pure, all-natural, right? This is true…sometimes. The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) organic certification process actually allows for several levels of organic percentages, and new groups have been emerging to offer confusingly similar alternatives to USDA organic certification. It can be a daunting task picking out healthy foods with complete confidence, unless we pick it off the vine, and even in that case, it’s got to be a vine out in the middle of nowhere to be sure that there weren’t any artificial  pesticides sprayed on it.

What does it mean to be organic? Here’s how Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines organic: “of, relating to, or containing carbon compounds.” By the simplest definition then, you can see how it only requires one carbon molecule to be considered organic, highlighting just one reason why the USDA needed to setup and develop a regulated organic certification program. Prior to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, virtually any product could bear an organic claim. Now, according to the USDA, organic is:

• a claim about how food is produced and handled
• not a content claim
• does not represent that a product is “free” of something
• not a judgement about the quality and safety of any product
• not meant to imply product superiority   

Join me tomorrow for the next organics installment.

Thanks for reading, 
Andrew