Understanding Organic Food Fraud

The term organic food refers to food which has been naturally produced, without the use of any chemicals or pesticides. It is food from plants and animals that has been grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones and feed additives.

Organics is actually the fastest growing sector in the food industry, not only in North America but worldwide. If you are interested in including organic food as a part of your regular diet then you should be proud of yourself, as you will not only be better protecting yourself and your family but the environment as well.

Organic Food Fraud

One issue that you will have to concern yourself with however is organic food fraud. Organic food fraud refers to the occurrence of farmers or other sellers attempting to sell food off as being organic when it really is not. This is actually a quite common occurrence, and obviously an incredibly serious one.

One example of organic food fraud in particular took place in Britain in the year 2005, just when Britain's organic food revolution was really beginning. Farmers, retailers and food inspectors ended up falsely passing off food as being organic and this caused a great fear in Britain, and made people begin to be extra careful when purchasing any organic food.

Another example of organic food fraud involved a Soil Association licensee selling meat products for which he did not have the appropriate processing license. This was an incidence of special concern, as the Soil Association is supposed to be a very well established and well respected organization.

Be Careful

There is really only so much that you can do when it comes to believing whether certain food is actually organically grown or not, however as long as you put some care and consideration into it when you are shopping, you should not run into any problems.

The incidences that have taken place over the years in regards to food fraud in the organic industry are few, significant nonetheless but few, and so you can use these examples to steer yourself away from the bad apples and find and stick to the vendors and retailers who are actually offering authentically organically grown food.

If you are ever not sure on a company, you can go through the Better Business Bureau, which is an organization that is devoted solely to helping the general public learn more about companies and organizations in order to protect themselves.