Just What is Organic?

What does the term organic mean to you?  Most of us understand organic to represent an item or product that has been sourced from organic ingredients.  An organic ingredient is such that it has not been altered through the use of pesticides, man-made fertilizers, and that has not been genetically modified. Natural growing means has made the ingredient an organic one.  Organic certification, (and there are quite a few organizations that provide certification), provides a set of standards that allows for an ingredient or product to be labeled as organic. Consumers who support organic products seek that certification on the packaging of the products they purchase.  One of the largest certification processes comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The USDA’s primary focus is on food products.  But, there are calls for greater USDA scrutiny for all certified organic products.  Recently the Organic Consumers Association filed a complaint with the USDA’s National Organic Program on January 14 against 13 personal care companies they alleged have made false claims on their products. Companies named in the complaint include some of the better-known natural beauty brands, specifically Hain Celestial Group’s Jasön Pure Natural and Organic and Avalon Organics brands; Kiss My Face Corp.; Levlad LLC’s Nature’s Gate Organics; YSL Beauté Inc.’s Stella McCartney Care 100% Organic Active Ingredients, and Organic Wear, made by Physicians’ Formula Holdings. The complaint specifically went after products that have the word “organic” in their product name but which don’t use a single certified organic product in their formulation, according to the Organic Consumers Association. A spokeswoman for Hain Celestial said the company does not comment on ongoing litigation and declined to comment on the recent complaint, but she said the company does feel there should be a personal care-specific organic standard. The company believes the USDA should govern the certification of organic personal care and cosmetics products because it is the only agency equipped to handle national regulations, the spokeswoman said.  There is a level of irresponsibility on the part of these companies to use the name organic within their labeling without having certification, if that is truly the case.  If these companies did indeed misrepresent their products, then they will bear the burden of losing their consumers trust and support.  Having greater governmental scrutiny in organic certification provides consumers with a higher level of confidence in supporting companies that do use organic ingredients.  We need this scrutiny now; there has been too many incidents of green washing that has hurt the organic and natural products movement these past few years.