Peeling Back the Label on Organic Foods

Organics: Real McCoy or Marketing Ploy?: Photo provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency."Healthy eating" means different things to different people. For some, it means following the Canada Food Guide. For others, it’s buying those 100-calorie packs of Teddy Grahams (to each their own, right?). For me and my family, healthy eating involves making meals loaded with veggies and fruits. My grocery cart typically gets filled with a selection of fresh, in-season and diverse produce (ok, ok, there’s ice cream in there too).

But just when I start to pat myself on the back for a job well done, I spot the organic section and wonder if I could be doing even better. Like "healthy eating", the term "organic" can mean different things to different consumers. Are we talking chemical-free? A more "natural" approach to farming (whatever that means)? Nutrient-rich products? And who’s in charge of determining what’s organic and what isn’t? Shoppers across the country are asking if "organic" is just some marketing buzz word or if there are standards in place that foods labelled as "organic" have to live up to.

As it turns out, until recently the term "organic" didn’t hold that much weight.

"People marking their products as organic didn’t need to get their products certified," explained Stephane O’Neil, program administrator for the Canada Organic Office. Because the term "organic" was not federally regulated in the past, organic certification was voluntary and companies had free reign to create their own definitions of what organic meant.

Heh ... great.

Thankfully, this all changed on June 30th when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) instituted organic products regulations and a new labelling system that covers food, animal feed and products used to cultivate plants.
Look For The Label: Canada's official seal of organic certification
In order for a company to make the organic claim or to use the new label, they must be certified by an official certification body approved by CFIA. Imported products must also meet the requirements.

So just what does organic mean now?
According to the Canadian organic standards, food products and agricultural products, including livestock and livestock feed, can only be referred to as organic if the farm they come from uses methods that aim to reduce harmful effects on the environment. This is achieved using several methods, including:
• Encouraging biodiversity – i.e. planting a diverse variety of crops to attract "good" insects and help naturally deal with weeds, disease and pests.
• Rotating crops from season to season to avoid a build up of certain kinds of pests or deplete the soil of certain nutrients.

In addition, for products with multiple ingredients (like salsa):
• At least 95% of the contents must be organic for the overall product to be labelled organic.
• Those that don’t qualify but have more than 70% organic content can list what percentage of the contents are organic on their packaging.
• Products with less than 70% organic content can only refer to organic content in their ingredients list.

What are organic no-nos?
• Genetic engineering.
• Certain kinds of fertilizers.
• Certain forms of irradiation – i.e. X-rays, typically used to reduce harmful bacteria and increase shelf life.
• Synthetic pesticides and growth regulators.
• Food additives like sulphates, nitrates and nitrites (in the salt family).
• Using antibiotics or anti-parasite medication in animals (though there are some exceptions).
• Cloned animals and their offspring.

Consumers can now rest assured that foods carrying the new CFIA logo meet these requirements, but using the logo is voluntary – companies that meet the requirements can market themselves as organic but aren’t required to use the logo. If you really want to make sure food labelled organic really is so, check out the CFIA website.

"If there is no organic logo on the product, look for the name of the certification body that’s on the label and you can refer to our website to see a list of all the accreditation bodies that are recognized under our regulations to see if that product has been properly certified," O’Neil said.

Whether organic food is truly better for you is still up for debate (and you can join in on our conversation in Hitched’s Just Eat It forum) – but these new standards are a good first step toward educating consumers and keeping our food honest.