Only the “100% Organic” label guarantees the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of organic. That means meat, eggs and dairy products are free of antibiotics and growth hormones; produce is grown with fertilizers free of synthetic or sewage components; and no genetically modified organisms are part of the product. But the label doesn’t necessarily mean zero pesticides or herbicides. Other factors contribute to whether food meets the USDA’s varying organic definitions and those followed by organic purists: What’s in the water used to irrigate the crop? What might waft over a field from nearby factory smokestacks? What pesticides drift onto crops from adjacent conventional farms? What GMO crops pollute organic fields? Last year a field of conventionally grown wheat in Oregon was corrupted by GMO wheat, and Jackson County residents responded by voting to ban genetically modified farming.
For products with the USDA “organic” label, only 95 percent of the ingredients must be organic. There are about 200 non-organic substances producers can to add to food without sacrificing the organic claim. And that non-organic 5 percent could be sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. The other 95 percent could be exposed to USDA-approved biological or botanical pest controls — or even chemicals from a list of allowable compounds poisonous to weeds and bugs but supposedly safe for people.
Products with the label “made with organic ingredients” can have as little as 70 percent organic content. Consider a bag of corn chips made with organic corn and non-organic oil: Since about 25 percent of a chip is oil, the processed product meets the government standard.