IS ORGANIC REALLY ORGANIC?

I was reading Tony Gentilcore’s Blog the other day and he brought up an interesting point about organic foods that inspired me to dig a little deeper into organic labeling and other labeling practices of the food industry.  Basically, is organic food really organic?  (By the way, Tony’s blog is a nice combination of training info, nutrition info, and miscellaneous posts related to fitness…and it’s hilarious…you should bookmark it).

A lot of consumers typically just look at packaging and see the “USDA Organic” seal and assume that is exactly what they’re buying.  However, as usual, there is a catch.

To quote from the USDA’s Organic Labeling and Marketing Information Fact Sheet, there are three levels of organics:

100% Organic – products must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients and processing aids

Organic – products must consist of at least 95% organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt).  Any remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List including specific non-organically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form.

Made with Organic Ingredients – processed products that contain at least 70% organic ingredients

Products meeting these requirements may display these terms and the percentage of organic content on their principal display panel.  If the product only qualifies for the “Made with Organic Ingredients” level, the manufacturer is still allowed to advertise in the principal display panel of the package with phrases such as “…made with organic vegetables.”  However they are not able to display the organic seal.

To me, the “Made with Organic Ingredients” label pretty clearly should have a sidekick label that says “Made with non-Organic Ingredients Too.”  The labeling doesn’t mislead consumers to believe that the product is 100% organic, but I have a hunch that the typical consumer just doesn’t think with that mindset (if the word organic appears on the package, it must be good).  However, I do think the second level (“Organic”) is very misleading.  There is no ambiguity in the wording of the label…it very clearly states the product is organic.  There is a contradiction in the meaning of the label though, since it really is telling us that the product is just mostly Organic.  Honestly, if it weren’t for Tony’s blog I would’ve thought that Organic and 100% Organic were interchangeable terms.

Why not make it very black and white?  Either it’s Organic or it’s not.  The only reason I can see why a manufacturer would use less than 100% organic ingredients is so they can get the benefit (premium price) of putting “Organic” on the label without the cost of going completely organic.

Finally, just because something says organic on the label (regardless of which level it has achieved) doesn’t even mean it is good for you.  Case in point:

The real debate should be the benefits of organically grown fruits and vegetables over conventionally grown produce…maybe that will be my next blog.

Well now that I’m all riled up about the food industry and their labeling practices, I want to expand on my previous post regarding Nutrition Info and product label savvy.  This time I’m going to cover the following trick:

“Made with Whole Grains”

Let’s use the example of bread, since that is probably the most common product where consumers think they are buying something healthy.  First of all, a lot of breads are simply colored brown with molasses so that they appear to be a whole grain product, but in fact they are as heavily processed as Wonder Bread.

Anyway, here’s the trick:  If you have a product that says “Made with Whole Grains” with two ingredients listed as grain products, but only the second one is a “whole grain” product, then you are likely consuming a bread made with as little as 1% whole grains!!  Let that sink in for a second.  Technically the manufacturer did not lie to you because the product was “made with whole grains” but they sure as hell deceived you!

You actually have to look at the ingredients list to determine if in fact the bread is 100% whole grain.  A few classic ingredients that manufacturers will use to fool consumers are “enriched wheat flour” and even just plain old “wheat flour”…if it has to be enriched then that means it has been processed to hell and back!  So how do you know that you’re eating whole grain bread? Let’s go to the source…quoted from the FDA’s Summary of Whole Grain Label Statements:

Question:  Are there standards of identity for products made from whole grains?

Answer:  For bread, rolls, and buns, the dough is made from whole wheat flour, brominated whole wheat flour, or a combination of these and no other type of flour is used.

That means if ANY OTHER flour ingredient is on the label (even if they are in addition to those ingredients), then it is NOT a 100% Whole Grain product!!

By the way, you can avoid all of this mess by simply eating Sprouted Grain products instead, and they are carried in every major grocery store!  These products are more expensive, but then you start to get into the “Real Cost” of food.  You will either pay for it on the front end (by buying more expensive, high quality products) or on the back end (with healthcare costs).