Organic food

[zbigi]

At least in EU, there's certification for organic food. Everything that has an official label on it is organic (unless the company is cheating the certification process etc.), everything else is BS.

[theanimal]

The underlying assumption by those who sell/market organic food is that buying organic food makes the customer feel better about themselves, despite the actual health benefits of consuming organic foods being at best, negligible, at worse, non-existent. Speak to any food manufacturer or distributor and the use of the word "organic" is murky. The FDA does not regulate the word on food labels. I don't understand all the nuances, but if you are raising cattle or crops, the USDA has some oversight. But if I wanted to manufacturer "Henry's Organic Nutter Butter Double Chocolate Health Bar" I think I'd be OK unless they find out the reason all the fat kids are losing weight by eating them is because I laced them with methamphetamine in which case I'll be subjected to the governmental clipboard army.

The FDA does not have their own regulations but they follow the regulations put forward by the USDA's National Organic Program which does regulate the use of the term "organic" on food labels. You can not just label your product to whatever your fancy.

I think more of the shenanigans come into play with ultra processed food. There you often see buzz words thrown around to disguise food that's shitty for you as somewhat healthy. See "Keto Clusters" "Vegan oreos" "Henry's Organic Nutter Butter" etc.

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It should be noted that the requirements to be an organic farm are costly and somewhat onerous to small scale farmers. I have friends who have organic farms but do not label it as such. I don't think organic is end all be all, but for shopping at large scale grocers, it probably serves as a better measure when looking at whole foods than not.

[Henry]

I think more of the shenanigans come into play with ultra processed food. There you often see buzz words thrown around to disguise food that's shitty for you as somewhat healthy. See "Keto Clusters" "Vegan oreos" "Henry's Organic Nutter Butter" etc.

That's kind of my point. If you want to sell broccoli or meat, you have to deal with the USDA - maintaining an office on site for spot inspections. I knew a Kosher meat guy who used to get into fist fights with his USDA inspector.

But if want to sell "Henry's Organic Psychotic Viking Rampaging A Not Yet Fully Developed Brainstem Double Trouble Trying To Put Your Obese Idiotic Kid in a Plastic Bubble Fudgecicle" you can slip through the regulatory cracks.

[chenda]

Apparently organic kosher and organic halal is now a thing.

https://biblicalfoods.co.uk/

Apparently in Israel Jewish pig farmers raise their pigs on raised platforms to make use of a legal loophole around kosher land use rules.

[Henry]

My understanding is that a pig by definition cannot be Kosher.