Читать книгу The Going Green Handbook - Alice Mary Alvrez - Страница 9

One of the simplest places to start going green is to buy more organic goods, and getting to know what “organic” even means.

The rules for organic labeling are very specific, and aren’t just a marketing ploy to possibly misrepresent a product. There are particular standards maintained at a national level by the United States Department of Agriculture (for American products at least). And these requirements must be followed, along with proof and paperwork, for a minimum of 3 years.

There is a fair bit of red tape involved in the standards, but a quick and suitable layman’s summary is:

Organic crops must be raised without conventional pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage-based fertilizer. Animals raised as organic must be fed only organic feed and have regular access to the outdoors. They are not to be given any antibiotics or growth hormones.

Basically, nothing toxic or artificial can be used in the growing of crops or the raising of animals.

Not Just Produce

Packaged and processed foods can be part of the organic world too, though it’s a bit more complicated because there can be a dozen or more ingredients at hand in any one product.

Here’s where you need to understand the labeling lingo. There are really 3 levels of organicness recognized by the USDA for legal labeling:

“100% Organic” - this means just what it says, that every ingredient in the product is organic

“Organic” - this means the product has at least 95% organic ingredients

“Made with organic ingredients” - this label is for anything with 70% to 94% organic ingredients

Anything with less than 69% organic content doesn’t get an official label. Labels like “all natural” or “eco-friendly” have no real meaning, so look for the official organic designation. Everything else is just marketing.

Not Just Food

Actually, you can find organic products outside the food industry altogether, which sometimes takes people by surprise. Many fabrics can also fall into this field, and you can get organic cotton and other fibers in clothes and bedding.