The Benefits of Organic Food- A Guide to Staying Healthy

Caldera + Lab

Certified Organic

It is our human right to know exactly what is in our food. Right now the most essential label on
your food, in terms of upholding specific government obligations, is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) organic seal. In order for a product to be considered certified organic, it
must meet specific standards:

• Organic crops cannot be grown with synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides or sewage
  sludge.
• Organic crops cannot be genetically engineered or irradiated.
• Animals must eat only organically grown feed (without animal byproducts) and cannot
  be treated with synthetic hormones or antibiotics.
• Animals must have access to the outdoors, and ruminants (hoofed animals, including
  cows) must have access to pasture.
• Animals cannot be cloned. https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2018/07/31/understanding-food-labels-2/

Where is my food coming from?

The United States requires Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) on chicken, seafood, produce and
some nuts that tells us basic information about what country our food was produced in—but
the food industry has limited our right to know. Until late 2015, beef and pork were also
covered by mandatory country of origin labeling rules, however the meat industry pressured
Congress to repeal the labeling requirement. Unfortunately, this labeling for meat is regularly
under attack.

Most developed countries, including many in the European Union, Japan, China, Russia,
Australia and Brazil, require country of origin labeling in addition to requiring food producers to
label products with GMO ingredients
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2018/07/31/understanding-food-labels-2 .

USDA Inspected

A USDA inspection seal means that your food meets specific quality standards and has
been inspected by the USDA employees under USDA supervision to rank its quality.
Meat and egg labels with a grade (such as USDA Grade A beef or Jumbo eggs) are
graded based on quality and size, not production methods, so this seal tells you nothing
about the company’s practices.

Food Labels That Give Limited Information

Cage- Free Eggs

“Cage free” means that birds like chickens for instance, are raised without cages, but it
does not elaborate on any other living conditions. Leaving you with questions of
whether or not they are raised indoors, in overcrowded spaces, or at a large factory?
The answers to these questions remain unanswered.

Pasture Raised

“Pasture raised” simply means that animals spent some time outside, outdoors feeding
on grass. This traditional farming method is usually done on a smaller scale than
conventional factory-farmed animals. However, there are zero government standards
for this label, including how much of its life the animal spent on pasture.

Grass- Fed

“Grass- Fed” means that the animal’s main source of food comes from grass or forage,
as opposed to corn or grains. Some third-party certifications also use grass-fed claims on
their products. However, this does not communicate if antibiotics or hormones were
used on the animal or what conditions it lived in.

No Antibiotics

Food that claims “no antibiotics administered” means that the animal received no
antibiotics over its lifetime. According to some local farmers large-scale producers feed
animals antibiotics at low doses to promote growth and prevent disease, which is linked
to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that may make people sick and are difficult
to treat – a serious threat to public health. Other producers use antibiotics only to treat
sick animals. This label does not tell you about other conditions where the animal was
raised.

It is important for the consumer to know if an animal receives antibiotics for any reason,
its meat, milk, or eggs, cannot be marked as “certified organic.”

No Hormones

Federal law prohibits the use of hormones on hogs and poultry. Any hormone-free label
on pork and poultry products is intended to mislead shoppers into thinking that the
product is worthy of a higher price. The USDA requires that these labels on pork or
poultry include a disclaimer: “Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in
poultry/pork.”

Ambiguous Food Labels

Seafood Labels- Unfortunately, labels on seafood are frequently puzzling- for instance,
you may read labels on fish, but there is no U.S. government standard for “organic”
seafood certification.

Free Range- “Free range” labels are regulated by the USDA only for poultry produced for
meat—it’s not regulated for pigs, cattle or egg-producing chickens. Nor are the
requirements very high: poultry can use the label if the chicken had any access to the
outdoors each day for some unknown amount of time; for all we know it could just be a
few minutes, and does not guarantee that the animal ever actually went outdoors to
roam freely.

Missing: GMO Labels

Many of the processed foods available in our grocery stores include genetically engineered
ingredients. GMOs have been altered at the genetic level by adding genetic material from
different species or making other changes that couldn’t happen through traditional breeding.
Despite the industry’s claims, there is no scientific consensus regarding the safety of these
foods and the weak approval process for new GMO crops relies solely on testing by the
companies that want to sell these new crops.

Even though 90% of Americans want labels on GMO foods, in July 2016 Congress passed a
federal law blocking states from requiring GMO labeling. This law overturns strong state laws
like Vermont’s, and instead allows for GMOs to potentially be labeled with 800-numbers or QR
codes. That’s not easy for people to understand, and it’s not a substitute for clear labels.
Without clear, on-package labels, there’s no way to know for sure.

That’s why we advocate to require clear labels on all foods with GMO ingredients. Only by
standing up for transparency in our food will we get the information we want

Organic Meat is Better For You and Our Planet

It’s completely understandable without prior knowledge why it would seem most practical for
consumers to purchase nonorganic meat, especially when you find a better deal in price.
However, now is the time to change that mindset and invest in yourself and your overall health.
When you eat meat, selecting organic is critical, because meat production can have torrent
effects on human health, animal welfare, and the environment. Choosing organic at your local
grocery store has an added value in supporting sustainable production because you are not
only ensuring that the animals are raised without synthetic chemicals and have high welfare
standards, you are also ensuring that all the food animals consume comes from organic sources
that support soil health and biodiversity.

Scientific reports have shown the differences in the way organic meat is produced, and why
those differences are essential for the health of the animals, the health and well being of
consumers, the health of the soil and the impacts of climate change.

Buying organic meat reduces the animal exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones and
pesticides https://www.organic-center.org/site/benefits-organic-
meat?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7c3-9pb38AIVtz6tBh3oSAazEAAYBCAAEgJixvD_BwE.

Healthy Food Balanced Mood

It’s fun to eat food that tastes good, but all food that tastes good does not always make you
feel good and is not always good for you. Let’s change our mindset to food as fuel and food as
medicine. There are countless reasons why we should be discerning as to what we put in our
bodies. Processed and fast-food chains may be cheaper, convenient, and tasty options, but over
time they will compromise our health. We especially need to pay attention to what we eat.
When we get sick, we give our bodies nutrients it needs to heal. If your goal is to lead a healthy
lifestyle by intentionally improving your overall diet and health—perhaps to address and
prevent unhealthy conditions—a holistic approach can offer a host of essential benefits.