What is “organic”?
What is “organic”?
There’s an old joke out there that the only difference between raw and refined sugar is that refined sugar has had all the dirt taken out! All joking aside, I recently read an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal that claims, “The Organic Industry is Lying to You.”( Miller, 2018)
Basically, this article argues that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does a poor job of policing health and nutrition claims of the organic food industry. For example, the Whole Foods website states, “organic foods are grown without toxic or persistent pesticides.” The author points out that organic farmers rely on natural and synthetic pesticides like copper sulfate, substances which have been shown to be probably carcinogens in high enough amounts. Another practice is to claim that certain brands of food are “GMO-free” even though the generic version of that food is also “GMO-free.” (The FDA requires that claims of ‘absence’ – like “GMO-free” – can only be made when the standard is ‘present.’) The FDA does not enforce this absence requirement on the organic food industry.
This is a pressing issue for organic marketers, because the organic food industry is growing very quickly. One recent survey says that household usage of organic foodstuffs has grown 30% from 2010 to 2017. (Daniells, 2018) Another article states that organic food purchases now account for 5% of all food sales in the U.S. (Batcha, 2018).
FDA rules and regulations governing what foods can be labeled ‘certified organic’ have been in effect since 2000 and those regulation require any agricultural entity with sales of more than $5,000 annually to submit to a rigorous certification process. But nothing prevents food producers from claiming (marketing) their foods as ‘organic’ (although not “certified organic”) and this loose standard allows for a lot of deceptive marketing to take place.
Because the industry is growing so fast, some further regulatory efforts by the FDA (perhaps in a post-Trump world) will need to take place to police claims of ‘organic.’ Consumers want and deserve healthy and nutritious foods and they have a right to know that foods they buy – and maybe pay a premium for – conform to certain generally accepted standards.
What is “organic”?
References
Batcha, L. (n.d.). Consumer demand grows for organic products. Associated Press.
Retrieved from (https://www.agweb.com/article/consumer-demand-grows-for-organic-products-naa-associated-press/)
Daniells. S. (2018). Household usage of organic foods climbs to 30% in seven years: package- facts. Food Navigator-USA.
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