SITE CONTENTS
Organic Food, Diet and Nutrition
Organic Life Style - Benefits
Organic Pest Treatment
Organic Farming-Definition
The Indoor Organic Herb Garden
Organic Food
Organic Milk - Growing Demand of Today
A Sound Sleep on Organic Cotton Sheets
Natural Skin Care – Going Organic
Organic Furniture and The Eco-Friendly System
Organic Coffee - A New Change in Life Style
Organic Pet Food
Organic Clothing - All for Health
Organic Baby Food - Steps to a Healthy Life
Organic Food
The word "organic" means a product has been produced without any toxins and is made of eco-friendly materials. "Organic" has certain specific legal definitions in most developed countries of the world.
In the United States, all farms and products claiming to be "organic " must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the following criteria in place for the finished product:
- No use of antibiotics or animal hormones in the raising of livestock
- Proper recordkeeping to be maintained at all operations
- No use of irradiation
- No use of genetically modified organisms
- Use of natural soil conservation methods and crop rotation practices
- Minimum time period, usually three years, that a field is free of chemical use before being used for organic farming.
The USDA has a list of prohibited materials that cannot be used on products carrying an organic label. This list includes things such as synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides and sewage sludge. It is also a prerequisite that there should be no chance for cross-contamination during "organic" processing, for example, organic oil seed cannot be ground in an oil mill that handles non-organic first extract oil.
Organically produced materials taste better than the usual stock and contain higher level nutrients and lower level residual pesticides. Certified organic food meets the criteria of the USDA as stated above and is free from herbicides, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms that have proven harmful to human health. Both fresh and processed organic food are also free of preservatives, added color or flavor and contain an amount of organic ingredients beneficial for healthy life.