FAQs on Organic Food

There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that organic tastes better. For example, when the Chicago Tribune had a panel tasting specialty chickens (Amish, Heritage, etc.), organic chickens were rated the tastiest.

The USDA organic certification program requires organic foods to meet strict standards which regulate how organic foods are grown, handled, and processed. The U.S. government is, therefore, responsible for what a claim of organic may be. Most  farmers and food manufacturers that label a product “organic” must be certified by a third party auditor that is approved by the USDA. Only producers selling less than $5,000 worth of organic food a year do not have to be certified, but they are still required to follow the government’s standards in order to label their foods as organic. Here’s what the labels mean: