Food labeling can cover a wide range of topics, such as allergy information, when it is produced, when it will expire, as well as whether or not it was produced according to certain ethical preferences such as organic, vegan or free range.
Checking the label on different products can help aid and hinder people in making healthy and ethically sound decisions when choosing what type of food to purchase. Different interest groups can either attempt to strengthen or weaken regulations with regards to certain certifications/labeling, which can make an ethically based purchase even more difficult. When many of the conventional food producers realized how much money was being made by organic food producers, they fought to weaken the regulations, thereby making it easier to get on board and gather some of the profits for themselves. Other groups, such as some of the existing organic producers and consumers fought to strengthen the regulations to ensure that a high quality product, produced to their own ethical standards could be easy identified and provided to those who also desire to support those ethical standards.
Many of the regulations are very weak or lax right now. In order for a cow to be considered grass fed, it only needs to be fed grass for the last few weeks of its life. It can still be fed grain for the entirety of its life before that and still be considered grass fed. Similarly, chicken may be considered free range if they are cooped up in a barn, but provided with a small outdoor area for the last few weeks of their life.
While labels are intended to provide a means for consumers to easily identify a healthy food, or to easily make an ethical decision while shopping, this is not how it always works. In addition, it can be very costly for a smaller farm to become certified organic (or other). Because of the cost of certification, it is possible in many areas to find food that isn’t labeled, but may exceed the requirements of production for whichever label you desire.
Examples of labels[edit | edit source]
Organic
Free Range
Wild Crafted
Kosher
Fair Trade
Shade Grown
Grass Fed
Sustainable
Vegan
Local
Nutritional Information
Wheat Free
Expiration dates
Different labels have different ways of becoming certified. Some go through a third party. Local may be determined by the market selling the product. Just because an item in your grocery store is labeled organic or free range doesn’t mean that it is necessarily the best choice in terms of treating an animal ethically, or being the healthiest choice in terms of human and/or environmental health. An argument against labeling is that it makes it more difficult for small time producers to enter to market, or to compete with larger companies which may hold more lax standards than a smaller company. One of the best ways that a person can ensure that food is being grown and produced in the most ethically responsible way is to actually go to the farm where it is produced. This isn’t always feasible for most people, such as people who are required to work most of the week, or students who are busy with schoolwork constantly, which is why labeling is convenient. An important thing to note is that having food certified can be very expensive, and many small farms aren’t able to afford this luxury. Some of these small farms are able to exceed the standards in ways that larger producers can’t.
Third Party Certifiers: There are several different companies that can certify that a food producer is producing their food organically according to the current laws and regulations. There is the USDA , Oregon Tilth , OCIA , QAI . All of these certification agencies must have a minimum standard of what the USDA expects, but some of these agencies may choose to have higher standards than the USDA if desired. Some food companies may even choose to become certified by more than one agency as a means of assuring their customers that they are organic.
