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Organic Goes Mainstream

There’s good news and bad news about organic foods: It’s getting easier to find them.

That’s both the good news and the bad news. You no longer have to hunt for organics these days because consumer demand has motivated large grocery chains and retailers to stock them and large food manufacturers to produce them. But some fear that the mainstreaming of organics is diluting quality and creating confusion over what’s really organic and what’s little more than marketing.

For example, as consumers make it clear they’re willing to pay more for foods grown without chemicals and made without artificial flavoring or coloring, a wide variety of labels have appeared advertising foods that are not only ‘organic” but “all natural,”  “free-range” or “antiobiotic-free.”

The labels are not interchangeable and don’t mean the same thing. Foods that are labeled as “organic” (that is, foods that carry the USDA organic label) must meet certain criteria, which can be found on the USDA’s National Organic Program website. Other labels, such as “natural” and “free-range,” may or may not be factually true, and do not mean the product has met any criteria whatsoever.

Last year, organic food sales came close to $14 billion, a 16 percent increase from the year before. You can now find organic groceries at large chains such as Giant and even Wal-Mart and Costco, though stores such as Whole Foods still carry the largest selection. Giant also carries its own brand of organics, called Nature’s Promise, and large food manufacturers such as Kraft and General Mills are beginning to develop organic versions of their products, as well.

But all organics are not the same and it pays to know what you’re getting. First, it helps to know what you want: Are you looking for foods free of pesticides? Beef that is free of hormones and antibiotics? Do you care if the chickens that laid your eggs were cage-free? Are you buying organic for the nutrition benefits (recent studies show organic fruits and vegetables carry a higher amount of vitamins and nutrients than those grown conventionally) or are you trying to protect your family from unnecessary chemical exposures?

Decide what’s important to you, and read the entire label, not just the large print on the front designed to make you notice the product. A product advertised as “organic” or “natural” may well include some artificial flavorings or preservatives, and you’ll see that if you read the ingredients. Like anything else, it’s the fine print that counts.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org