"USDA Organic: What Does It Mean?"

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts: Nutrition and Weight Control USDA Organic: What Does It Mean? How do you know if the organic food you buy really is organic? To help consumers know exactly what they're getting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has created national organic standards and labeling rules that farmers and food processors must follow for raw and packaged foods. Read on ...

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UDSA Organic: What Does It Mean? If you buy organic food, you may like that it is produced without using  antibiotics, growth hormones, conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, bioengineering techniques, or ionizing radiation. Or you may want to support farmers who use environmentally friendly practices that emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water. But how do you know if the organic food you buy really is organic? To help consumers know exactly what they're getting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has created national organic standards and labeling rules that farmers and food processors must follow for raw and packaged foods. Before a food can be labeled organic, the farm and, in the case of packaged foods, the processing company that produces it must be certified organic by USDA-accredited certifying agents. The official "USDA Organic" seal you see on many foods certifies that  the product is at least 95% organic. Products may additionally be labeled as "100% organic" if they consist solely  of organically produced ingredients and processing aids. Products that feature a "made with organic ingredients" label must consist of at  least 70% organic ingredients and can list up to three of those ingredients on  the front of the package. If a product contains organic ingredients totaling less than 70%, it cannot use  the term "organic" anywhere on the front label, but it can identify specific organic  ingredients in the ingredient list. Neither of these types of products is allowed to  use the USDA Organic seal. For those that do meet the requirements, use of the seal is voluntary -- so it is not found on all organic foods. However, a company that violates USDA rules and misuses the organic label can be fined. For more information on the USDA National Organic Program, go to www.ams.usda.gov/nop.