A little while back, we put together a short article on how you consumers can tell the difference between natural, organic and organic ingredients. It’s a somewhat perplexing area for people to get their head around since the definitions are at times not all that clear however; in the next week or so, we are celebrating a week of organic and hopefully that will shed a little more light on the value of organic products.

In a nutshell, Organic can be defined in the following table;

• Organic food or certified organic products contain No harmful preservatives
• Organic is plain and simple – pure and simple; 100% NATURAL
• Organic relies on the natural course of events found in nature
• We don’t see the use of fertilizers or pesticides in organic certified foods
• Soil is not contaminated with chemicals
• GMO is not organic
• Organic is kind to its environment and animals
• In fact, organic food might be considered the original way food was grown and processed

You may be working towards an organic lifestyle (particularly for food or consumables) and have questioned what might be the benefits we can attribute to going organic. Well, there are some studies that consider organic food to have higher nutritional value and let’s be honest, if you are concerned about chemicals or other toxins on or in your food, then organic is a good idea.

For the savvy consumer who knows what to search for in organic certified products, there are some shortcuts to reading through fine print labels. If your product has a recognized logo from one of the 6 certifying organizations approved by an Australian regulatory body, then you are on the right track. The logo’s below are our custodians of ORGANIC certification and your guarantee that products with these logos on their labels comply with the regulations required for certification.

Just a quick note on the difference to Certified Organic and Organic Ingredients. Ok, while a label might say contains X% organic ingredients, this does not make the product organic. It’s an important set of information to read because, while a product may contain 0.5% organic certified ingredients, the remaining 99.5% is NOT organic. It’s a little bit of marketing spin that might confuse label readers however, you are now in the know and can differentiate between 100% Certified Organic and contains organic ingredients.

Organic is also a great recognition of companies who support farmers or producers in their aim to provide quality crops or herbs or coffee or anything else that is harvested from uncontaminated soil.

There you have it, a reason to participate in a week of Organic goodness

Be safe and stay healthy