THE ORGANIC JUNGLE: Wading through food labeling

If I ever win the lottery, I will start shopping 100 percent organic. Sure my grocery bill will triple, but what's money to me, a multi-millionaire? In reality, I buy as much organic as I can afford. By now everyone knows about the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean Fifteen". Our family pretty much follows these guidelines strictly. The items that fall in the middle? Well, that just depends on the budget and the price. But I definitely want to make sure I'm spending our money on the RIGHT products. Do my bananas need to be organic? What about rice? Does "all natural" mean anything or is it just a marketing ploy? It can be dizzying. Whole foods are pretty easy - they are either organic or they are not. Cut and dry. Packaged foods get a little tricky however. The standards of organic labeling are confusing to say the least. I read labels carefully, and even I get tricked occasionally. Recently, I saw this item on clearance at Harris Teeter for $1.89 each

Wow - what a great price for organic chicken stock, right? Read the label more closely (as I should have). What the hell is organic "chicken flavored" stock? Think reading the ingredients list will clear it up?

 

Oh, really? Organic chicken flavor is made of organic chicken flavor and salt? How enlightening. Honestly, I'm not sure I even want to know. Likely some kind of ground up chicken parts. But hey, its organic! Just goes to show that packaging can be misleading. You have to read carefully. For example, I was recently getting ready to put some organic cereal bars into my cart, when I noticed that the package actually said "made with organic ingredients." What's the difference? Well, as it turns out, a lot.  There are some foods that I'm perfectly OK with being just partially organic, because they don't contain any conventional "red flag items" (grains, meat, dairy and the dirty dozen). But this particular product while made of organic wheat, contained conventional strawberries. Strawberries are one of the DIRTIEST, so back on the shelf it went.
So for a little clarity on the matter, I visited www.organic.org . Here is what their Web site said.

"100% Organic—Foods bearing this label are made with 100% organic ingredients* and may display the USDA Organic seal.

Organic—These products contain at least 95–99% organic ingredients (by weight). The remaining ingredients are not available organically but have been approved by the NOP. These products may display the USDA Organic seal.

Made With Organic Ingredients—Food packaging that reads “Made With Organic Ingredients” must contain 70–94% organic ingredients. These products will not bear the USDA Organic seal; instead, they may list up to three ingredients on the front of the packaging.

Other—Products with less than 70% organic ingredients may only list organic ingredients on the information panel of the packaging. These products will not bear the USDA Organic seal."

I really try to not get bogged down in the minutia of it all, but sometimes reading labels is important. Now if I had to choose between a packaged treat full of GMOs and pesticides and something only "made with organic ingredients", the I'd go with the latter. But sometimes I find myself reading the label and finding a red flag, like the conventional strawberries. In that case I just choose another product entirely. Shopping organically on a budget means you have to be flexible and not necessarily have your heart set on 100% Organic Strawberry Cereal Bars, cause guess what? They don't exist.

And just in case you need the 2013 Dirty Dozen, Clean Fifteen list:

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce

15 Least Contaminated

• Onions
• Sweet corn (maybe technically low in pesticides, but I limit this due to GMO concern. Sweet corn used to be mostly non-GMO but has changed in the last few years. In a word: Monsanto)
• Pineapples
• Avocado
• Cabbage
• Sweet peas
• Asparagus
• Mangoes
• Eggplant
• Kiwi
• Cantaloupe (domestic)
• Sweet potatoes
• Grapefruit
• Papayas
• Mushrooms