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Show DAILY THE CHRONICLE UT AH FOOD ' r ' ORGANIC FOOD C7ROWS IN POPULARITY WiTH NUTRITIONISTS AND CONSUMERS JACOB STRINGER Chronicle Feature Writer According to the OTA, "Organic agriculture is an epending on who you term "organic" is either akin to a battle cry to nature or a silly moniker talk to, the somewhere get back to used by lib erals who are opposed to commercial farming. The term is also laden with unfamiliarity and loaded with political energy. But what exactly does "organic" mean? And if you want to eat organic food, where do you go to purchase and consume it? WHAT IS ORGANIC? The term "organic" is definitely ambiguous. Although there seems to be a basic understanding that it describes food that is pesticide-frethere is a lot more that goes into organic food than that. Lacking any federally mandated standards, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) a third party organization that exists in the United States, Canada and Mexico to ensure the quality of organic foodsstepped forward and designed some guidelines for what may be considered organically- - produced foods. e, sysecological production-managemetem that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and scil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of inputs and on management practices that restore, mainnt off-far-m tain and enhance ecological harmony. "Organic food handlers, processors and retailers adhere to standards that maintain the integrity of organic agricultural products. The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people." One thing to keep in mind is that even though some foods might be labeled organic, it does not necessarily mean that they are completely free of pesticides and inorganic chemicals. As Beverly Webber, director of the Nutrition Clinic in the College of Health at the University of Utah, said, "Organically grown food could still be contaminated by remaining pesticide residues in the soil or in the ground water. Because of the situation regarding pollution in the air, soil and water, foods can not be completely free of these residues. But, organic " "xiV ''j foods are a lot mere free of them than your regular foods." Wandering through the grocery stores, you might find many foods labeled organic when in reality they are not truly that organic. Because there exists no form of governmental regulation for what may be deemed organic although the Food and Drug Administration is currently working on industry standards called the National Organic Program anybody could be throwing around the term "organic" without any consequences. "Until these new regulation go into effect, there isn't any laws that require organic grown foods to be tested for contaminants," said Webber. In response to this, a third party group set up their own standards and the rest of the consciously organic industry seems to follow them. Amy Regni, marketing director for Wild Oats Community Market a market entirely filled with organic foods, from its meats to its producesaid that the key words when looking for the "good" organic foods are "Certified Organic." These words mean that the product has passed the high standards of OTA and is thus truly organic. To be "certified" organic, a farm must be free of chemicals for at least three years, must keep detailed records of practices and they must be inspected yearly by a disinterested party. SHOPPING AND EATING ORGANICALLY On the U campus, people who wish to eat organic food don't have many choices. U students have choices like Pizza Hut Express and Menutainment, but when looking for organically produced foods, the campus community is strictly out of luck. the executive chef for Jeff Dejong, Chartwells who is in charge of ordering the foods used in the preparation of all food services on campus said why the choice is not there. "We don't really have a call for it. I would prefer it, but the big produce distributors don't offer it," he said. "We offer foods that the campus community wants. If there was a call for something like that, we might go out of our way to get in those types of foods. It is certainly an option." see ORGANIC FOOD, page 8 organic food becomes more popular, larger corporations will begin to meet the public's demand. This As will make organic food less expensive than it is now, says Beverly Webber, director of the U's nutrition clinic. CHRONICLE FEATURE EDITOR SHANE McCAMMCN S HAN ECH RON ICLE.UTAH.EDU 581-704- 1 |