Explanation of how produce becomes organic
That organic strawberry may look like an ordinary strawberry, but its journey from a seed to your hands was anything but ordinary. Let’s take a look at how strawberries – and other produce – “go organic.”
First, since genetically modified food is prohibited under organic production, you can be sure that the seed from which the strawberry grew was not genetically modified. The seed was probably organic, as organic farmers prefer to use organic seeds.
No fertilizers from sewage sludge, synthetic chemical, or other prohibited materials were applied to the soil for at least three years before the strawberry was harvested. Instead, the strawberry grew in soil that was likely managed through such techniques as crop rotation and cover crops (plants grown to prevent erosion and increase soil fertility). The soil might have also been weeded by hand. During the winter, straw or another type of organic mulch was probably used to keep temperature damage to a minimum.
The farm where the strawberry grew was certified by a third-party agency to ensure the grower followed all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic production rules, as well as any companies who handled the strawberry after it was harvested but before it reached your supermarket shelf. (Companies who sell less than $5,000 a year in organic agriculture products don’t have to be certified but must still meet all requirements if they want to label their products as organic.)
And you can be sure that your strawberry is truly organic: The USDA has strict labeling laws for organic products. According to those laws, if your package of strawberries contains a USDA Organic seal, those strawberries are at least 95 percent organic. Anyone who mislabels or sells a non-organic product that’s purported to be organic can be fined up to $11,000.
