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These are exciting times for the organic food movement. Organic farms are expanding, local organic "subscription farms" are springing up everywhere, more stores are offering a greater number of organic products, and prices are dropping as supplies increase. Two major factors are fueling this dramatic worldwide expansion: Consumers are increasingly choosing organic products out of concern for the purity of their food and the health of the environment. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun enforcing rules that establish a comprehensive national definition of "Certified Organic." The rules replace the varied standards several dozen state and private certification groups had been following. The rules also provide penalties and enforcement provisions to prevent false organic claims.
Obviously, the best way to ensure food purity is to grow it yourself. But most of us don't have time these days to grow and preserve large amounts of our food, making the expansion of organic food choices in grocery stores very good news and a national set of organic standards more important than ever. Here's what the new "Certified Organic" label means to you:
To be labeled organic, all fresh or processed foods sold in the United States, including imports, must be produced according to the national organic standards and certified by an inspection agency accredited by the USDA.
Before their crops can be certified, all organic farmers must use only approved materials that will not harm humans, animals, or soil life. They must develop an organic farm management plan, keep detailed records, and be inspected annually by an accredited certification agency. All companies that manufacture organic food products must follow similar strict requirements.
The standards prohibit the use of all of the following potentially unhealthy materials and practices:
Toxic synthetic pesticides and fertilizers A farm field must be free of these chemicals for at least 3 years before a certified organic crop can be grown on it.
Genetically engineered (ge) seeds or other materials Many nonorganic products now contain GE foods. Because the government has so far refused to require labeling of GE foods, the only way you can avoid them for sure is to buy certified organic products.
Sewage sludge Organic farmers would love to recycle human wastes safely into fertilizers for their soils, but this will not be possible until the nation has a sewage collection system that keeps toxic chemicals and heavy metals from contaminating sewage sludge (sometimes referred to as "biosolids"). For now, however, the USDA prohibits the use of sewage sludge in the production of organic food. Sewage sludge is widely used by nonorganic farmers.
Fresh manure For years, organic farmers have voluntarily followed proper animal-care and manure-composting techniques to protect against transmitting food-borne illnesses. The new rules make those voluntary practices mandatory and will require a waiting period, probably 90 or 120 days, between the application of raw manure and the harvest of any organic crops that are likely to be eaten raw. Conventional farmers, who also use lots of raw manure because of its low cost, in contrast are not governed by any national restrictions on the use of raw manure.
Animal confinement The new rules will require that organic eggs, meat, and dairy products come from animals that are given feed that's 100 percent organic. In most cases they will require that the animals be given access to the outdoors and pastures and will forbid the severe confinement conditions often used in nonorganic factory farms.
Irradiation The USDA's organic rules ban the controversial technology of exposing food to radiation to kill microorganisms. Meat producers are beginning to irradiate non-organic meat because unsanitary conditions in animal food factories are contaminating beef and poultry with food-borne diseases organisms.
Antibiotics and growth hormones Nonorganic meat and dairy products are produced using controversial synthetic growth hormones, including the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, which forces dairy cows to produce more milk, and several beef growth hormones that are banned in other countries. Also, disease problems are so severe in these food factories that growers routinely overuse antibiotics on the animals. The national organic rules prohibit the use of antibiotics and synthetic hormones in meat and dairy animals that are certified organic.
A safety net In the past, organic food certification was handled by various state and private agencies. Under the new national standards, these same agencies will continue to provide certification services and on-site farm inspections, and their logos may also appear on products. The main difference will be that the certification agencies will all follow the same national organic rules, and each agency will have to be accredited by the USDA.
Because the certification requirements can be very time consuming to comply with, the new rules exempt any farmer who sells less than $5,000 worth of organic food per year (and there is an additional $5,000 allowance for small-scale processed organic foods). This means that if you grow organic vegetables, for example, and sell them to your neighbors or at a small roadside stand, you won't have to worry about being certified.
Finally, the new standards regulate the use of the term "organic" only in the description of food. They do not control how "organic" can be used in labeling such garden products as fertilizers, mulches, composts, and pesticides. In the past, manufacturers of garden products have often used the word very loosely, and sometimes incorrectly. The new rules do not directly require that to change.
There is some good news on this front, however. First, we at OG expect the growth of organic agriculture will also increase the availability of organic gardening products. Also, a new organization, the Organic Materials Review Institute, is now hard at work reviewing and certifying products that meet the strict definitions of organic materials provided in the proposed national regulations. Manufacturers are now using the OMRI label, which indicates legitimate organic gardening products.
Want to learn more about the new organic food label? Visit the
