100% NATURAL! NON-GMO! ORGANIC!

Oh, sorry. I was just reading the labels off of food packaging out loud. You know, loud enough for everyone to know what I’m buying and what I consume on the daily. 

Fine, I’ll drop the sarcasm.

The worlds of agriculture and food manufacturing are worth diving deeper in simply because, not only can manufacturers trick their consumers into buying lots of different products that seem better, but also because they – like most people – use promising, positive labels and hide behind them.

How often have you hung out with people who claim to only buy and consume organic fruits and vegetables? And when you ask them why they only purchase those products, their answer is often, “Because they’re pesticide-free and safer.” 

The first point to clarify is the difference between ‘organic’ and ‘pesticide-free’. 

While world agriculture is trying to shift towards pesticide-free farming, this does not justify ‘organic = pesticide-free.’ 

There are, in fact, two types of pesticides: synthetic and natural. When anyone utters the word ‘pesticides’, we all automatically think of the man-made, chemical pesticides.  According to USDA Organic and the European Commission, the use of any GMOs or synthetic pesticide, fertilizer, or agent in organic farming is strictly prohibited. This, however, does not mean that pesticides of natural sources – or organic pesticides – are not used. After all, they’re natural, right? Examples include copper, ethanol, vinegar, chlorine materials, animal manure, and animal bone and blood. 

But organic farming goes beyond what farmers add to their crops – it includes good agricultural practices, crop rotation (not planting the same kind of crops every year), weed management, disease and pest management, handling, animals, and more. 

From here, when a product is labeled ‘organic’, of course with the associated logo (USDA or EU), then this product was organically grown as per the respective standards. 

Although some of the authorized agents are less hazardous to human health than synthetic agents, their use can also be dangerous because, at the end of the day, sola dosis facit venenum – the dose makes the poison. 

Henceforth, organic farming is more of a sustainable way of agriculture rather than a strategy to preserve proper human health (even if the latter eventually comes along with it), but it also has its own requirements to be properly achieved. Conventional agriculture is not the evil sibling, though. Adopting good agricultural practices and respecting the adequate and authorized doses of synthetic agents should give good crops that are right for the consumer. 

In Lebanon, there are some whose organic production is accredited and who work hard to maintain their accreditation, but the cost of that production is high, and the revenue may not be as expected because it doesn’t have as much recognition. 

Furthermore, it’s important to really understand the labels printed on food packaging and know the products we are buying. It’s very easy to hide behind big, powerful words like ‘ORGANIC’, ‘NATURAL’, ‘BIO’, and ‘IMMUNITY BOOSTING.’

We cannot reduce a food item to one trait that is highlighted in vibrant colors, and simply ignore its background – how it was made, how it was handled, and what it offers. 

Read more, learn more, and think beyond labels.