What makes organic food different is the way it's grown and produced. For example, only fertilizers like compost or manure can be used; chemical fertilizers are out, as are most synthetic herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics. Animals must be raised on organic feed and have access to the outdoors.
Real Organic Food, or Mostly Organic?
There is some wiggle room in the USDA's organic program, however. Certain foods can sport the USDA label even though up to 5 percent of their ingredients are non-organic. Organic beer, for example, can wear the USDA label even though it is made with non-organic hops. Foods with at least 70% organic ingredients can indicate that they are “Made with Organic Ingredients,” but cannot carry the organic label.There’s been some controversy over the USDA’s handling of the organic certification program, and some healthy-food advocates protest the influence that major food manufacturers have over the program and their efforts to weaken the organic standard.
Organic milk used to come from cows with little or no access to open grazing land, but the USDA now enforces an open-grazing policy. Some organic fruit growers have claimed the USDA lets other growers to bend the rules, allowing synthetic ingredients in fruit labeled organic. The USDA has been sued several times for failing to adequately enforce or maintain organic standards.
What is organic food not? Read on ...
