What's the Difference Between Organic and Made With Organic Ingredients?
As if grocery shopping wasn't hard enough. When it comes to shopping for organic products, there are multiple labels, and each of them has a slightly different meaning, or in some cases, no meaning at all.
Here's a primer on which terms to look for:
U.S. Department of Agriculture 100 Percent Organic
This is the number one label to look for. It applies to all types of foods and means that produce was grown without any synthetics, animals were fed organic feed, and prepared foods were made with 100 percent organic ingredients.
Organic
This applies only to packaged foods, and it means that at least 95 percent of the ingredients were organically grown. The remaining 5 percent of ingredients must be approved for organic farming by the USDA.
Made with Organic Ingredients
Once again this is for packaged foods, and means that 70 percent of ingredients must be organically produced.
Natural
This term actually has no regulation so seeing it on a package is just a marketing technique.
How often do you buy organic foods?
Related:
10 Organic Foods That are Worth the Money
