Considering buying a natural or organic food or beauty product? To be sure you’re getting the natural goodness you’re paying for, the USDA advises you to check packages for these labels:
On foods…
* “100% organic”: It will appear on fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, cheese and other “single ingredient” foods and means it was grown without manmade fertilizers or pesticides.
* “Organic”: This appears on foods with two or more ingredients—such as yogurt and cereal—and indicates that it’s 95% to 100% organic.
* “Made with organic ingredients”: These foods contain 70% organic ingredients.
* “Contains organic ingredients”: These foods contain less than 70% organic ingredients.
On beauty products…
* “USDA Organic”, “Ecocert” and “Natural Products Association”: A minimum of 95% of the ingredients (besides water and salt) in these products is organic.
* OASIS: This group, founded by U.S. cosmetics industry and ingredients suppliers, puts its seal on products whose ingredients are 85% organic.
[photo: D. Sharon Pruitt]
