What is really Organic?

I have been dazed and confused recently each time I venture into the food store and a vast percentage of the items claim to be organic.

The term "organic" has been both a socially and a legally defined category of food that is claimed to be more natural than artificial in both its production and its preparation. Organic foods are now the central element of American Health food. It was the the Progressive Era Legislation promoted by Theodore Roosevelt that led to the pure food and Drug Act (1906) and the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most notable to its relationship to organic foods was the Delaney clause, part of the 1958 food additives amendment to the food, Drug Cosmetic act (1938). In short, the Delaney clause states that any additive in any amount that is demonstrated to cause cancer in laboratory animals will be banned from the market.

This clause introduces an organic food conundrum. If our food is deemed safe by government oversight, then why do we need to have a government oversight, then why do we need to have a separate category of organic food ? Is organic food any safer, more nutritious, or better tasting than conventional food. The answer is not a simple yes or no. The movement involved not only individuals who questioned the way food was being produced and its impact on the land, but those who were wary of the safety of the land.

Lady Eve Balfour, one of the early English founders of the organic movement, emphasized the importance of soil fertility and was concerned with the increased use of petroleum-based artificial or "artificial," chemical fertilizers. She promoted the adage that healthy soil meant healthy plants and in turn that translated into healthy people.

The National Organic Rule has very specific parameters. It should be noted that the terms "Natural" and "Organic" cannot be used interchangeably. Organic labeling laws are as follows: Labeling a product "100 percent organic requires that the product contain only organic ingredients; this product can carry the official USDA organic seal, but use it voluntary, labeling a product organic requires that 95 percent of the product by weight or by volume , contains organic ingredients.

I beg you please do not label your products organic if it really and clearly not organic. It is both misleading and companies should be fined for not following the guidelines.

Happy eating !

Sources of information
The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods
The Organic Alliance
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

Star Apple Diaries Remixed and Reinvented

In 2008 I started this blog called star apple diaries. It is named after my favorite fruit the Star Apple. I wanted to share my food facts food journeys and findings. I trust you will enjoy reading as much I enjoyed discovering and learning and eating.

Restaurant Awards and Guides

The first American restaurant guides were produced locally in cities with vibrant restaurant cultures, namely New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Among the earliest was the The Restaurants of New York (1925) by George Chappell, the architecture critic for the New Yorker magazine. The first popular national guide to restaurant across the United States was produced by Duncan Hines, a traveling salesman who mailed a list of his 167 favorite restaurants to friends as a greeting card in 1935. The following year he published Adventures in Good Eating, which, according to his introduction, "Let the public know where they might find decent food, carefully prepared by a competent chef in clean surroundings."

Sources of information Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.