Organic Food – What Is It?

Organic food is becoming more and more popular these days, even a buzzword. Health-conscious people tend to use it more often. But what kind of food is organic food?

At the risk of simplification and overgeneralization, we can define organic food as

food, such as vegetables, grains, fruits, meat, eggs, etc.  produced using pretty much the same methods developed and perfected by our ancestors hundreds of years ago.

You think this organic food definition is too simple? Then continue for a more complicated version.

According to Wikipedia,

Organic foods are produced using methods of organic farming. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders. In the context of these regulations, organic food is food produced in a way that complies with organic standards set by national governments and international organizations. Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening.

From the organic food definition quoted above, we can see that,

• firstly, organic food is a result of organic farming;
• secondly, Organic food is a heavily regulated industry in those countries/regions where food producers need special certification to label their food as organic.

Let’s see what is conventional farming and how organic farming differs. Conventional farming is also referred to as intensive farming or intensive agriculture.

Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by a low fallow ratio and the high use of inputs such as capital, labour, or heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area. ¹  — Wikipedia

How is organic farming different from conventional farming? As is defined on Wikipedia,

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biological pest control.

In other words, organic farming makes very few use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

Now you know that food we grow in our backyard is organic. We can tell our neighbor that our backyard tomatoes are organic, but can we sell our “organic” tomatoes on a public market and label it as such?

That depends. If you live in Ontario Province and you sell your organically grown tomatoes in your neighborhood, I’d say you can. If you live in Quebec Province,  then you are not allowed to. Unless, you go through a rather complicated certification process (which we will talk about in another article) and obtain the right to use Logo Bio Quebec.

That’s what “heavily regulated industry” was referring to in the above quoted organic food definition.

In Canada, the federal Organic Products Regulations require mandatory certification for agricultural products represented as organic in import, export and inter-provincial trade. Or if the producer wishes to use the federal organic product logo, satisfying the certification requirements becomes mandatory. 

Where the use of “organic” is regulated, it usually requires that the name of the certification body is shown on the package along with the organic labeling.

Products which have obtained an organic certification must meet certain labeling requirements. The most important remains the mandatory inclusion of the words “certified by” followed by the name of the certifier. — CARTV

Notes:

1. Italics are added by the editor.