Getting to the Roots of “Organic” Food

A lot of hue and cry is made over buying organic food, organic coffee, etc. But “organic” is actually a pretty vague term. Does it mean a lack of pesticides at origin? A lack of factory processing? No additives? Or some combination?

Lifehacker has a pretty handy article on understanding what it means to buy food labeled “organic”. In particular it helps parse the dozens of certifying organizations and criteria. Check it out to get a better sense of what’s going into your shopping basket.

From the article:

“100 Percent Organic” products must show an ingredient list, the name and address of the handler (bottler, distributor, importer, manufacturer, packer, processor) of the finished product, and the name and seal of the organic certifier. These products should contain no chemicals, additives, synthetics, pesticides or genetically engineered substances.

“USDA Organic” products must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. The five percent non-organic ingredients could include additives or synthetics if they are on an approved list. The label must contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the product, and the name of the organic certifier.

“Made With Organic” products must contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients. The label must contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the product, along with the name of the organic certifier.

After reading the article, you may be wondering where coffee fits into this scheme of things. You may be wondering if there’s an extra level of complexity and you’d be right. I’ll talk about that in-depth in an upcoming post.