This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Last month, Secretary ofAgriculture Ann Veneman announced a program that will set new rulesfor “organic” agricultural products in the United States. MizzVenemen said the new rules will increase public trust in the organicfood industry.
Organic foods represent a fast-growing market of products thatprovide a choice for the American public. Americans can now buyproducts that are grown or raised without added chemicals.
New laws for organic foods make the use of the word “organic” thesame throughout the food industry. Americans who buy an organicproduct can now be sure that government rules support that claim.
Under the new rules, organic meat, chicken, eggs and milkproducts must come from animals that have not been given drugs orchemicals to increase growth. Organic crops must be grown withoutusing most chemical pesticides that kill insects and othercrop-destroying organisms. There are also restrictions on the kindof fertilizers used for plants that are to be marked “organic.” Ingeneral, organic farmers grow or raise food using reusableresources.
For the first time, any product that is marked “all organic” mustnow contain one-hundred-percent organic material. A product thatcalls itself “organic” must be at least ninety-five percent organic.And a product must contain seventy-percent organic material to claimthat it is “made with organic” substances.
The Department of Agriculture says it makes no claims thatorganic foods are safer than other products. However, many peopleconsider organic foods healthier. Americans will now be able to knowif a food product is organic by a newly designed sign, or label,from the Department of Agriculture. Food producers can chose to putthe label on their products if they meet federal requirements.
Organic foods are not a new development in food production. Theyhave been grown in the United States since the latenineteen-forties. In fact, so-called organic ways of growing andraising food are the oldest ways. The need to show a differencebetween organic and non-organic production has come about in moderntimes. Oil-based fertilizers, genetic engineering and man-madegrowth chemicals have made labeling products “organic” necessary.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.