What the heck is non-organic? Actually everyone seems to know that answer. The question some have trouble with is what does organic mean, exactly? Aside from the politics of the actual use of the word “organic” on food labels, most people know that it means natural – grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, hormones or other unnatural chemicals or treatments. Unfortunately, tacking a word, any word, in front of a food item causes one to pause to understand how that word modifies the food item, how it makes that food item different. This puts that food item at a competitive disadvantage as it is seen as different and therefore possibly inferior or at least requiring further investigation.
What is vastly unfair about the organic label, is that it should not require a label at all. Organic is the natural version of chicken. It is what we usually refer to as just plain chicken that is unnatural. In other words, we have it quite backwards. Chicken, before the introduction of chemicals and hormones to their lives was natural and did not need a label. What we currently call chicken is not natural and it is what ought to be labeled. What kind of label? Is there a single word that captures chemicals, growth hormones and torturous treatment? Sick?
