USDA Draws Up Organic Label Guidelines

By Alec Italiano, contributing writer

Consumers will know how natural their food is through four new divisions of organic products

In response to debates about product labeling in organic food, the USDA has laid out guidelines for food manufacturers that will allow consumers to know exactly how organic their food products are. The USDA has broken organic food products into four categories — 100 Percent Organic, Organic, Made With Organic, and Specific Organic Ingredients.

For a product to be considered “100 Percent Organic,” not only do all the ingredients need to be organic, but any processing aids must also be verified as organic.. However, to carry just the “Organic” label, the same applies in the previous category except ingredients specified on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances may be used. Up to 5 percent of non-organic ingredients are allowed, excluding salt and water.

The “’Made With Organic” category demands at least 70 percent of the product to have organic ingredients.  It also states that “any remaining agricultural products are not required to be organically produced, but must be produced without excluded methods.” Those excluded methods are genetic engineering, ionization radiation, or sewage sludge. Any non-agricultural products used must be specifically allowed on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. The final category, “Specific Organic Ingredients,” explains that products containing some, but not all, organic ingredients should have the organic components labeled individually. The USDA gives an example of muffin mix that uses organic flour and sugar, but not blueberries or cinnamon. The information panel would read, “Organic flour, organic cane sugar, blueberries, baking soda, cinnamon…” There are also specific regulations for alcohol, textiles and cosmetic products.

These four terms apply to all USDA certified food and will be included on both the principal display panel and the nutritional information panel of organic food product’s packaging. The USDA recommends, “If you make a product and want to claim that it or its ingredients are organic, your final product probably needs to be certified. If you are not certified, you must not make any organic claim on the principal display panel or use the USDA organic seal anywhere on the package.” However, there are some exceptions to the policy. Organic farmers selling less than $5,000 of products are not subject to the new policies.

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