What is Organic?
Certainly not that box of Cadbury eggs I put down yesterday, am I right? Heh. I kid, I kid. The actual definition of “organic” is
Big business. Very lucrative.
I guess I’m feeling ornery tonight. This is all true, though- organic food is a $26.8 billion industry in the U.S., and it’s been growing at about 20% annually for the past 15 years according to this Times Leader article. Through the dot-com bust and the recent recession, “organic” has remained a hot label that keeps people spending. But what exactly is “organic”?
The precise definition of “organic” in the U.S. is maintained by the Department of Agriculture. According to their website,
Organic production is a system that is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990…
The referenced OFPA is a living document that was most recently amended in 2005. It is a fantastic and relatively easy-to-read guideline containing many worthwhile definitions and statutes. You can find the PDF version here.
So, loosely, “organic” is whatever the government says it is. Farmers, manufacturers, and handlers must partner with the Department of Agriculture to obtain organic certification in order to reap the competitive advantages of the organic label. After clicking around on the National Organic Program’s website a little bit, I found a cool document that more or less lays out their requirements in raw, specific terms. You can find the outline here- click around for yourself. It gets really juicy around section 205.203.
A little light reading to start off your week!
