Organic vs natural in food labelling

By Emilia Despa in Anywhere  |  2 years ago  |  0 comments

Organic is better than natural? Organic is the same with natural? Can a product be natural, but not organic? This is surely a big question mark  and it is getting more and more difficult both for the producer and consumer to say what is what.

I did some research for myself and here is what I found.

Only the "organic" word is certified: 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) redefines "organic" by setting up its own standards for "certified organic product." Certified organic products offer consumers the peace of mind to know that their gardening efforts will do less harm to people, pets and the environment than in using chemical pesticides.

via Havart.com

In the food industry today, there's no official definition of "all natural."

A food labeled "all natural" can be processed without preservatives or additives, but it can contain: pesticides, herbicides, toxic heavy metals, trace amounts of PCBs, toxic fluoride, hidden MSG, high-temperature cooking byproducts, synthetic chemical vitamins, other non-natural substances.

A potato chips bag can be sold as natural, even if it contains unhealthy additives. 

A friendly advice for everybody is to read the label before deciding to buy a product. It can be disappointing.