How to read labels of organic products

A guide to different international certifications and tips on healthy eating

ORGANIC LABELLING

How do you differentiate one organic label from the other? Here are a few examples of what different international certifications mean:

1. “Organic”

These generally contain at least 95 per cent organic ingredients; the remaining five per cent may comprise non-organic ingredients. For example, up to 5 per cent of animal feed can be from nonorganic production — organic farming does not allow the use of pesticides or chemicals, however, there is no guarantee there is no pesticide residue on produce as farmers are currently allowed to have conventional farming on their organic farms.

Some of their practices include:

Genetic engineering, irradiation, synthetic fertilisers or pesticides are not permitted. Animals eat organic feed, have access to open air and are not permitted to have growth hormones or antibiotics.

2. “Biodynamic”

Biodynamic farming is all about a balanced farm ecosystem that generates health and fertility from within the farm itself. Biodynamic meets all organic farming requirements and more.

Some of their practices include:

Use of special preparations made of herbs, minerals and cow dung to enhance the plants and soil fertility when producing fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. With milk products, homogenisation of milk is not permitted. No use of nitrites in meat processing. Other practices such as cutting cows’ horns and hens’ beaks are not permitted. Eggs are from hens that are fed 100 per cent organic, vegetarian food.

3. “Made with Organic”

These products generally contain 70 per cent organic ingredients; 30 per cent can be of nonorganic origin. The list of ingredients will identify the organic items as well as the non-organic ingredients. This is commonly seen with products such as soups or pizzas.

Note: Although regulations prohibit or restrict the use of certain products in organic food, due to some loopholes in the system some of those products do find their way into the produce. The message from the experts is that consumers should read the labels/ingredients and research where their food is coming from.