What Does Organic Mean?

4/08/2009 | with 3 comments »

We all see it in the stores, products labeled 'organic', '100% organic' or 'Made with organic ingredients'. So what does it all mean? Does it have the same meaning? I know I'm confused! It's just like when you're shopping for electronics, there are a lot of different labels and stuff that it gets confusing. Here are the USDA rules that determine how organic foods can be labeled:


100% Organic - Such foods are organic down to the very last crumb, so they carry the USDA green and white "certified organic" seal. Most often, these are whole foods - apples, oranges. grains or those with only one or two ingredients, like pasta.

Organic - At least 95% of the ingredients are organic. The rest comes from a list of allowable ingredients. These foods also carry the USDA seal and are generally composed mostly of whole-food ingredients - canned soups or frozen foods.

Made with Organic Ingredients - At least 70% of the ingredients are organic. However, these foods, which may be any type of processed or packaged food, cannot carry the USDA seal.

3 comments

  1. CraftyDragon // 4/07/2009  

    Thank you for this info!

  2. Keith // 4/07/2009  

    Babette, the USDA seal is very expensive for a good food grower to get. It is a challenge, and many food manufacturers opt out of the costly certification process to produce fine products at a lesser cost.

    I appreciate the organoic label, and I know there is a value in the certification, but working in the health food world, I wonder if it is not another scam.

  3. Keith // 4/07/2009  

    Keep blogging, Barbs. I appreciate the fine engineer mothers sharing in the blogosphere

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