English: Your field guide to USDA organic labels
Published on Wed., October 29th, 2008
The day I decided to eat organic is the day the grocery store became a personal hell.
Capitalism ensures that we have options for every last thing that we buy. Here’s my standard decision-making process.
First I run the numbers: 16 ounces for $5 or 12 ounces for $3.50?
And then I factor in the time constraint: Can I eat 16 ounces in two weeks or should I pay more and have a solid month before expiration?
And there are always a few miscellaneous considerations. Can the masterminds of marketing sway me with their fancy jar? Does the recycling center take this kind of plastic? Wait, was this the one that tasted a little like hazelnuts?
When I added the factor of certified organic versus all natural versus local, I’d be gone so long my roommate was left to wonder whether I was grocery shopping across the street or in Nebraska.
Eating organic means putting fewer herbicides and pesticides into my body and into the earth. Food is healthier when it isn’t genetically modified or exposed to radiation.
OK, simple enough. The hard part comes when you walk through those automatic double doors.
USDA Certified Organic is a label I’m noticing more, and it’s often coupled with higher prices. That’s probably because the process to become certified can be expensive.
The label tells you that the product is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture. The place it was produced, the ingredients it contains and the practices of the company who made it all meet USDA standards.
The company has to pay a fee for certification, too, and some of this ends up on its selling price.
That’s not to say that the label is a guarantee that these products are good for you. Their environmental effects vary. The food could contain synthetic pesticides that are still on the land from previous uses where food is now organically grown.
The coulds and maybes drive me bonkers, but here’s what’s certain: “USDA Organic” tells you the product contains 95 percent organic materials and the other 5 percent are on an approved list. The USDA label “Made with Organic Ingredients” means at least 70 percent is organic and then there’s “USDA 100 Percent Organic,” which tells you it’s the bomb.
When my budget stretched as far as it was going to go, I figured all natural was better than nothing.
Turns out, that’s not always true. To the USDA, the word “natural” means no artificial ingredients, added coloring or heavy processing. Whole grain corn is natural and healthy, but refined into high-fructose corn syrup, it’s more difficult for your body to process. Because it came from a plant, it can be described as all natural. Add weak oversight to the equation and you’ll find that all natural doesn’t tell much of anything about the product it describes.
If the guesswork bothers you, the farmers’ market is a perk of living in Lawrence. If you have a question about how the product was produced, ask the farmer.
Stress takes years off your life, so adopting my shopping habits won’t get you anywhere. The take-home advice is this: Certified organic can be meaningful to you when you shop, and all natural deserves less weight in your decisions than the fancy jar.
English is an Overland Park junior in journalism and economics.
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This reminds me of last November, when I went on a fast for ten days where I could only drink 100% pure fruit and vegetable juice. If I went anywhere other than the Merc, it was an INCREDIBLE pain to find the juices that I needed. And the longer I was there, the more time all that delicious food on the shelves had to taunt me.
I'm a firm believer in the old adage that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but when it comes to running the complex set of moving parts that is your body, it's always important to know exactly what you're fueling it with. Great column.
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