With the increasing interest of many consumers on healthy and nutritious foods, natural and organic foods have also seen a dramatic increase in their demands. However, many are not familiar with what makes natural and organic food. Many even believe that organic is the same as natural.So here are good organic food definitions that will help you understand what makes food organic.
The Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing defined organic food as food grown or raised without the use of additives, coloring, synthetic chemicals, e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, radiation, or genetic manipulation and meeting criteria of the U.S.D.A. Standard National Organic Program. Another organic food definition by the Merriam Webster is food, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides. These organic food definitions show that are certain standards that foods must meet in order to be classified as organic food. So, what are these standards?
First, the definition of organic food was created in accordance to the Organic Foods Production Act of the 1990. The Act created a national standard for organic food. The Act also gave the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program to set these standards and to oversee the certification of the organic produce. Only the producers that meet the standards are then allowed to put on their products the label US Certified Organic. The definition of the United States Department of Agriculture on organic food is food produced by farmers who emphasized the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. In other words, based on this definition the standards that producers must meet in order to be allowed to label their products US Certified Organic are to use renewable resources and to conserve the national environmental resources.
Second, producers must therefore practice organic farming. Organic farming means the use of non synthetic fertilizers that maximizes biological activity and promotes long term soil health. Farmers or producers must use of biological control and other techniques in managing insects and the environment. They must promote biodiversity. They must not use synthetic pesticides, hormones and fertilizers. And they must use renewable resources and practice conservation.
Third, there is a focus on different management practices in the production and handling of the produce or food. In order to meet the standard, it is not enough to simply do away with conventional farming methods, such as the use of chemicals and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. It is necessary to promote biological diversity and promote the health of the environment, such as keeping the soil fertile. The farmers therefore use techniques that used by civilizations thousands of years ago, such as crop rotation and composts, and yet utilize modern advances in farming.