Certified Organic - What Does It Mean?

Hello all...

If you are interested in the health of your family and yourself, you may be someone who likes to buy organic foods. But what does it mean to be organic... and more importantly what does it mean to be "certified organic"? Let's take a look...

First, keep a few things in mind... there are plenty of healthy, tasty foods and snacks that are not "certified organic" but are still made with quality, healthy ingredients... and different countries have different requirements that must be met in order to be "certified organic"... and I am going to focus on North America.

In simple terms "organic certification" is a process by which producers of organic foods and agricultural products can have their products "certified organic". But of course it's not that simple.

As I said before, requirements are different from country to country, but in general they usually include:

• avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge.
• use of farmland that has been free from chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more).
• keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail).
• maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products.
• undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

The purpose of certification is to assure quality to the consumer, prevent fraud, and to promote commerce. So for you, the consumer, a product that has the "certified organic" label on it means that you are getting a product that has met all of the requirements to be truly organic. If a product you are about to buy claims to be "organic", but you don't see the certified label, you may want to research that product further before buying. The "certified organic" label looks like this:

In the United States, federal organic legislation defines three levels of organics. They are:

• Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods are allowed to be labeled "100% organic" (and are allowed to display the seal shown above).
• Products with at least 95% organic ingredients can use the word "organic" (and are allowed to display the seal shown above).
• Products containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, can be labeled "made with organic ingredients".

Products made with less than 70% organic ingredients can not advertise this information to consumers and can only mention this fact in the product's ingredient statement.

As an example, the certification process for a farm generally follows these steps:

• Study the organic standards, which cover in specific detail what is and is not allowed for every aspect of farming, including storage, transport and sale.
• Compliance - farm facilities and production methods must comply with the standards, which may involve modifying facilities, sourcing and changing suppliers, etc.
• Documentation - extensive paperwork is required, detailing farm history and current set-up, and usually including results of soil and water tests.
• Planning - a written annual production plan must be submitted, detailing everything from seed to sale: seed sources, field and crop locations, fertilization and pest control activities, harvest methods, storage locations, etc.
• Inspection - annual on-farm inspections are required, with a physical tour, examination of records, and an oral interview.
• Fee - an annual inspection/certification fee (currently starting at $400-$2,000/year, in the US and Canada, depending on the agency and the size of the operation).
• Record-keeping - written, day-to-day farming and marketing records, covering all activities, must be available for inspection at any time.
• In addition, short-notice or surprise inspections can be made, and specific tests (e.g. soil, water, plant tissue) may be requested.

So, as you can see it is not exactly a cake-walk to get your product certified organic. But it is worth the time and effort to those companies that want to gain the trust and confidence of their customers.

The next time you're shopping for your dinner and healthy snacks for you and your children, look for that "certified organic" label and you can be sure that the company that made the products has gone the extra mile to insure that you are getting exactly what you want.

Please remember as I said above... there are plenty of healthy, tasty foods and snacks that are not "certified organic" but are still made with quality, healthy ingredients. Here at Betty Lou's, not all of our products are certified organic, but many are. All of our products do contain at least some organic ingredients. But the reason that not all of our products are certified organic is that at this time not all of the ingredients that we use are available organically yet. As those ingredients become available in organic form you can rest assured that Betty Lou will begin to use them.

Read more about organic certification HERE (all facts listed above are referenced from this linked site).