Organic or All Natural Foods

First of all "Organic" is in reference to the way that a product or animal is raised and cared for during its growth process to the harvesting on an organic farm. The farming practices that are followed encourage soil and water conservation to reduce pollution.

Organic Farmers that grow produce and livestock do not follow conventional methods using harmful fertilizers or chemical weed control or medicines or antibiotics to control deseases in their livestock. Instead these farmers follow crop rotation and use mulch, compost and/or manure for fertilizing and good ole hand weeding and tilling for weed control.

Their livestock, beef, chickens and pigs are given organic feed and allows them access to the great outdoors where they can roam and graze. Rotaional grazing along with a balanced diet of organic feed is provided for the animals. The farmers also practice good housekeeping in thier environment, keeping it clean, to help keep desease to a minimum.

Natural benificial insects and birds are also welcome inside the organic farm and the farmer will use mating disruption and traps to reduce pests and desease.

Now how do you know if you are buying/using true organic products?

The easiest thing to do is to check the label for the organic seal of authenticity....because, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established, under strict goverment standards, an organic certification program that REQUIRES how all organic foods are grown, handled and processed. Farmers or food manufacturer who label and sell foods as being organic must be certified by USDA showing that they are meeting these strictly regulated standards.

Look for the USDA Organic label (pictured above). This means that the product has been produced and processed according to the standards set forth by the USDA and that at least 95% of the ingredients are produced organically.

You should also know that in the U.S. the federal organic legislation has set up three levels for organics.

100% organic means that the products is 100% single ingredient organic food such as eggs, fruits and veggys or include 100% organic ingredients such as cereals.

Products that contain or include at least 95% organic. These products may be labeled as organic and have the USDA seal. However, The name of the certifying agent must be on the label. NOTE: the seal is optional.

and "made with organic ingredients" this means that the product is made up with less than 95%. These products may contain 70 to 95% organic ingredients of these up to 3 ingredients may be listed on the main label along with the "made with organic ingredients" tag. Also the name of the certifying agent must be included and the USDA organic seal can NOT be used.

NOTE: foods containing less than 70% organic ingredients can not use the word "organic" and will not be able to use the organic seal. However, the ingedients may be listed on the ingredient list upon the label.

I have talked with a lot of consumers that have tried both organic and conventional raised food products. As far as the taste, some of them swear that they can taste a difference while others say that they can not tell the difference.

Some choose the organic products simply for environmental reasons mainly due to the way that the product is grown because of the water, soil, pest, and crop controls (rotation) and they like that. Now, because of the way these products (organic) are grown they will have some inconsistencies with their color, shape and size (large or small) and let me warn you that they will tend to spoil alot faster than their conventional like items. No waxes or preservatives...no-way!

As far as the organics being safer and/or have more nutritional value...well the USDA does not claim that even though it is "organic" that there is any proof available that the organic product is in any way more nutritious or safer to eat than it's convetionally raised products.

Oh, and another question that I am asked frequently is..."How come this stuff is so much more expensive than the other!!?".

Well, I can only tell you that organic farming is more expensive, do to the fact that it is so labor intensively raised. Think about this for a moment....Organic farmers do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides to control pests and/or weeds in their feilds. They rely on physical labor (weed pulling, varmit chasing etc,etc...) and tougher government farming regulations and how about this....the yeilds of the feilds are much smaller. Guess what...this all leads to the higher cost of farming these products and you end up paying more for the organic products as an end result.

With this all said, whether you buy organic or conventional is entirely a personal preference and what you want to "bring to the table" (pardon the pun) or your own personal desire of what it is you would like to eat. It is all up to you.

Please don't confuse all natural food products with the organic food products... just remember that only the truely organic foods will be labeled with the "USDA Organic" logo proving that these products have met the strict USDA standards.

Now wait a minute, you say, I see terms on packages like "free range", "hormone free" and "all natural" aren't these items "organic"? In one word...no... these terms do not mean that these products pass as organic. These terms "may" have some relationship with the raising of an organic product however, unless it carries the USDA Organic seal stating that it has met the USDA strict organic standards...they are not considered organic.

"Free-range"= free to roam around the farm pastures and not couped up in the same building with many many other animals. NOTE: If they are raised inside a building they must be provided with an access to the outdoors.

"hormone free" = not injected or sprayed with chemical and or synthetic products that enhance greater, faster growth and size rates.

"all natural"=foods that are minimally processed that contain no artificial colors, ingredients, flavorings, preservatives or sweeteners for their enhancement.

These terms are important to alot of people out there. It depends upon personal preferences on what people are looking for in a product.

These products are processed in such a way to minimize any negative impact on the environment.

Examples of earth friendly products are those that are biodegradable, chemical free or made from recycled post consumer waste. You know... the stuff that we recycle everyday. Some people will only buy products if the container itself has been recycled and will be recycled again.

Going green here just does not limit itself to food products alone. More on this later.