Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern
synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers,
do not contain genetically
modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.
For the vast majority of human history, agriculture can be described as
organic; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new synthetic
chemicals introduced to the food supply. The organic farming movement arose in
the 1940s in response to the industrialization of agriculture known as the Green Revolution.
The weight of the available scientific evidence has not shown a significant
difference between organic and more conventionally grown food in terms of
safety, nutritional value, or taste.
Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening. Currently, the European Union,
the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to
obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders. In the context of
these regulations, organic food is food made in a way that complies with
organic standards set by national governments and international organizations.
In the United States, organic production is a system that is managed in
accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 and regulations
in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to
site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical
practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and
conserve biodiversity. If livestock are involved, the
livestock must be reared with regular access to pasture and without the routine
use of antibiotics or growth hormones. In the United States, a food can be
labelled as "organic" if it contains a minimum of 95% organic
ingredients. In most countries, organic produce may
not be genetically modified. It has been suggested that the application of nanotechnology to food and agriculture is a
further technology that needs to be excluded from certified organic food. The Soil Association (UK) has been the first organic
certifier to implement a nano-exclusion.