USDA Certified Organic

Becoming Certified Organic is neither an easy process nor cheap.  Certified Organic food is naturally more expensive than their non-organic counterparts.  But for the increase in cost you are guaranteed that the growth and processing of the food have the following:

Crops

• Don’t use Most of the conventional Pesticides
• Petroleum based fertilizers
• Sewage-Sludge based fertilizers

Animals

• Organic Feed
• Access to Outdoors
• No Antibiotics
• No Growth Hormones

Handling

• No Ionizing Radiation
• No Sewage-Sludge
• No Genetic Engineering

Issues

Mostly we have an issue with the, again, vague terminology on “Access to Outdoors”.  Organic is still a great way to go, but there are better options with regard to animal products.  Organic and Pasture Raised would probably be the best combination, but cost-wise it would be a pretty penny.  Some farms will pasture-raise their animals and treat them in an organic fashion, but due to the cost of becoming certified organic, may choose not to, and as such those farms should be better than Organics, and maybe even cheaper.  That is one quest of NWFarm Review, to find those farms, and buy their delectible items.

Also of importance, the term Organic only means that 95% or more of the ingredients are certified Organic.  If you want truly organic foods, make sure to look for the term “100% Organic”.

Sources

1. USDA: Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms
2. USDA: Organic Labeling
3. USDA: National Organic Program