These past few months Berry Beautiful has been jumping through all the hoops to get USDA Organic Certification for a new line of Certified Organic Red Raspberry Seed products. As we’ve gone through the process, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to produce truly certified organic red raspberry seed oil and it has come to my attention that many, many companies are gaming the system. Now I understand that if you want an organic product or ingredient you have to look for the USDA organic seal on the label. If the label doesn’t have the USDA organic seal and it’s not certified by some other legitimate agency, such as ECOCERT, you can be sure that the product or ingredient is not “Organic” even if the word organic is used on the label.

Let’s be clear, “Organic” is not a concept or a marketing ploy, it is an agricultural method. When we see the word “Organic” used on the label of a product we expect that the product contains agricultural ingredients that have been produced within the USDA organic guidelines. Under these guidelines “Organic” refers to a method of growing and processing crops where non-GMO agricultural products are produced, packaged and stored without the use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. It’s more expensive for farmers to raise and process crops this way, they must work with nature to build and replenish the nutrients in the soil through crop rotations, composting and cultivation in an effort to build healthy soils that produce healthy more resistant plants.

People want the choice of being able to confidently buy products that are non-GMO and have been raised more sustainably. People want to have the option of purchasing products that do not contain toxic pesticide residues and have not been processed using toxic solvents. The goal of the USDA Organic Program is to give people this clear option.