Certified Organic Foods

A recent Q&A article from a NYU professor answers some questions regarding Organic food and Nutrition.  Some of the most interesting tidbits from the article:

Certified 100% Organic means that all the ingredients in a product have been grown or raised according to the USDA’s organic standards, which are the rules for producing foods labeled organic.

Certified Organic requires that 95 to 99% of the ingredients follow the rules.

USDA organic rules are about the letter of the law, not its spirit. Food marketers, however, take advantage of public perceptions that “organic” implies spirit - sustainability and better nutrition. Companies that follow the rules can legitimately market highly processed foods as organic, taking advantage of their health aura to command higher prices.

Q: Aren’t organics elitist? People can’t buy organic foods if they aren’t available at an affordable price.

A: I once heard Eric Schlosser answer a similar question aimed at his book, “Fast Food Nation.” He pointed out that social movements have to begin somewhere and that several began with elites but ended up helping the poor and disenfranchised – the civil rights, environmental and women’s movements, for example.

I would add the organic movement to this list. It has already forced mainstream food producers to start cutting down on pesticides and to raise farm animals more humanely. As the supply of organic foods increases, and the Wal-Marts of the world sell more of them, organics should become more democratic.

Related posts:

1. New rules for Organic Meat and Milk
2. Saving Money by not buying Organic
3. Food Nutritional Scoring System – ONQI – NuVal
4. Green Mattresses – Organic Mattresses
5. Eco Friendly FSC Certified Wood

Posted on August 25th, 2009
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.