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The organic label you see on products at the grocery store is a certification of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (see Figure 2-3). Food companies pay to use the label. The label, or seal, indicates that the food was produced through the approved methods as defined by the USDA. In terms of science, all food is organic, as it contains carbon matter. So what’s all the fuss about?

The USDA defines organic as crops that haven’t used synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers and are free from any genetic engineering or ionizing radiation. (Keep in mind that organic crops can still be sprayed with approved natural pesticides. Just because a substance is natural, however, doesn’t mean that it still can’t be harmful.)

Courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture

FIGURE 2-3: USDA Organic seal used to certify food produced organically.

In terms of animals, organic meat is from livestock that is fed organic feed and raised without routine antibiotic use. The USDA Organic label sometimes adds to the costs of farming practices and the packaging of food products. This cost is also passed to the consumer, often resulting in higher prices than conventional products. But are they all-around better for you? Nutritionally, there’s no significant difference in organic-certified food versus nonorganic-certified food. Organic farming isn’t better or worse than conventional farming; it’s simply a method of farming (see the earlier section “Organic farming is superior” for more).

Like the Certified Organic label, the Non-GMO Project Verified label is a paid labeling verification. This label can be misleading because products are often labeled, even though they wouldn’t ever contain any ingredient that has a GM counterpart.