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Organic Foods

What Makes Organic Foods So Appealing?
Organic food is the fastest growing division of food in the United States today. While organic food accounts for only one to two percent of all food sales in the world, the organic food market is growing rapidly; far ahead of the rest of the food industry. The sales of Organic food increases seventeen to twenty percent annually for the past few years, while sales of traditional food have only expanded about two to three percent a year. In 2003 organic products were available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and seventy-three percent of conventional grocery stores. Organic products account for 2.6% of total food sales in the year 2005. What are the regulations for organic food, and what is the appeal of eating a diet that consists of organic foods.
Currently in the United States, European Union, Japan as well as many other counties requires producers to obtain organic certification in order to sell and advertise food as organic. There are several standards and regulations that organic foods must abide by in order to be considered organic. Most importantly, farmers cannot use conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste sewage sludge, food additives, and in most countries, including the U.S, organic produce cannot be genetically modified, in addition, livestock must be raised without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. In order for a food label to state “organic” the product must contain ninety-five percent organically produced raw or processed ingredients, all though this does not include water and salt, the five percent of ingredients that is left must be previously approved by the USDA. If a product is labeled “made with organic Ingredients” seventy percent of the product must be organic. The USDA did not have these regulations on organic foods until the California Organic Food Act was passed in 1990. Today, if a product is labeled organic that is not certified organic the farmers are at risk for...