How to check if vegetables are organic

Look for the word "organic" on vegetables or pieces of fruit, or on the sign above the organic produce display. The word "organic" may also appear on packages of meat, cartons of milk or eggs, cheese and other single-ingredient foods. Foods labeled "100 percent organic" must contain only organic ingredients. Products containing at least 70-percent organic content can be labeled "made with organic ingredients." Those foods labeled simply "organic" must have at least 95-percent organic ingredients, by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt. Anyone who knowingly sells or labels a product "organic" that is not produced and handled in accordance with these regulations can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

Foods grown and processed according to the federal standards will in most cases bear the seal "USDA Organic." As its use is voluntary, companies may choose not to display the seal.

If you see a food that is labeled "transitional," that means the farmer produced it during the three-year conversion period from conventional to organic.

AppearanceIf it is naturally and organically grown, no two items will look identical... ever! It's just not possible to find two things that look absolutely alike in nature. No two leaves of the same mango tree will ever look 100% alike. Similarly, each apple, mango or even grain will always look different from another. Their colour, shape, structure will never be uniform. There will, for instance, be different shades of yellow in your moong dal instead of the uniformly bleached yellow of the regular packaged dal.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Size UpFruits, vegetables and grains won't be huge in size. So while it is okay to go "ooh aah!" over huge potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, eggplants, cauliflower, capsicum and the humble lauki, or bottle gourd, it is better not to transfer them to your plate. There are, of course, special cases in which people do grow large-sized fruits and vegetables organically as well, but they are not the norm and are difficult to find.

Your Insect FriendsKeedas (worms) in your grains are actually good news. Naturally grown sabut daals (like moong sabut, or urad sabut), atta, maida, brown rice, white rice and other grains will get keedas after two-three months and especially in the rains... because keedas too know that non-organic food is just not edible. So don't jump up and down when you see the worms; all you need to do is wash the grain or sun them out like our grandmothers would and still live on to a 100 years. Keedas don't contaminate your food, pesticides do. Similarly, if you see a few holes in the leaves of the greens you are buying, pick up the bunch; it means it is not heavily 'pesticided'. And one rule of thumb to follow with greens is this: after washing them well, give a final rinse of salt water for two-three minutes. This helps remove germs and residue.

TastyNatural is just tastier. When you cook organic vegetables, you will realise that you need less spices as there is so much natural flavour. Similarly, organic fruits are juicier as they are allowed to ripen on the tree. Otherwise, fruits are usually plucked when green and then gassed to ripen and increase shelf life. In the case of a banana, your taste buds will speak up because the pesticide fruit has more water due to the spraying of acetylene gas. Unfortunately, most mangoes today are artificially ripened and apples have the maximum pesticides. The adage 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' is actually only for organic apples.

HealthierOrganic feels healthier, is far lighter on the digestive system and also helps reduce acidity and gas related GI issues. You will feel a perceptible difference soon enough.

The Smell TestThe aroma and texture of organic food is totally different — very potent, in fact. Organic spices, for instance, will have a strong aroma and flavour as they retain their oil content. In non-organic spices, the oils have been extracted and sold separately so they are devoid of any oil. Plus they are usually adulterated, so you need to use more to get the same result. Try ajwain/laung/zeera... just eat it raw and you'll know the difference. Your tongue will have a strong sensation after half a teaspoon of organic ajwain. Similarly, organic apples have a divine fragrance; keep a crate of organic apples in the house to find out.

One problem though is that industries now do a good job of recreating the original smell. The smell of pure ghee, for example, is added in the lab. Some just add the fragrance to make you think you are buying pure ghee, whereas you could actually be buying something totally nutritionless and worthless. So be careful.

Cook FasterOrganically grown food always cooks much faster; in fact if you are a multi-tasker, be careful as you might just burn the dish if you go out to peep in the garden while it is cooking. Food with pesticides needs to be cooked for much longer periods.

ReadPlease read the label and check for any preservatives present in the product; most preservatives are petroleum based — you surely don't want to be consuming those!

CertificationThough not a norm in India yet, sometimes fruits and vegetables meant for exports do land up in the local market and have a sticker on them that can be checked. (4 digit PLU — price look up code — the sticker basically means grown with pesticides; 5 digit codes starting with 8 means GM grown, 5 digit codes starting with 9 means organically grown. In India, we basically have the regular 4 digit PLU which indicates that it is grown with pesticides).

Shelf LifeIt is a myth that organic fruits and vegetables spoil faster; stored in a refrigerator they last for a long time.

organic fruits and Vegetables having more nutrients with low appearance and smell.

We are in the 21st century where most people are very much careful about their health, and they prefer to have organic vegetables and fruits because of their advantages.

We agree that organic vegetables and fruits are higher in price than regular products or, say, products containing pesticides. Organic grown veggies and fruits take a long time as farmers don’t use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. You can call the natural grown process is called organic.

Today, we will explore the points that help you identify organic vegetables and fruits physically without chemical testing. 

• Shape: Organic vegetables and fruits do not look beautiful, and you will find their shape irregular, no two items of the same veggie or fruit will be identical. You find a difference in color, shape, and size. In organic fruits and vegetables, you will find rough skin with a color difference. If we talk about grains, you can havesome pulse grains in your hand and notice the yellow color difference in each grain.

• Smaller in Size: you might say wow by seeing giant pumpkin or bottle guard or any other vegetable or fruit. We suggest you do not bring that big-size vegetable and fruits on your plate as they have been grown by artificial synthetics in just a single night. Organic fruits are a little smaller in size. Organic vegetables and fruits also can be produced in a bigger size with the help of hybridization.

• Smell and Taste:non-organic products have a strong aroma as compared to organic. The taste of organic fruits has sourness in it, while non-organic fruits and vegetables have sweetness in taste. Non-organic vegetables and fruits look fresher because of their dark color and strong essence.

• Seeds:organic fruits and vegetables contain more seeds than non-organic fruits and vegetables. The best example of seeds check is watermelon, papaya, and brinjal.

• Worms and Insects:naturally grown vegetables and fruits have worms and insects as they are favorable to naturally grown crops. If you find some holes in the green vegetable, then you can buy the same as it’s a sign that the farmer has used fewer pesticides for that crop. Similarly, if you find insects in your pulses and rice, then no need to worry. You need to wash them correctly or put them under the sun for some time as insects don’t contaminate your food.

• Shell Life:rind of organic fruit or vegetable has a short life. Non-organic shell will stay for weeks while organic one will be stale after 2-3days maximum in average temperature. You can keep them fresh for a long by using the refrigerator. The perfect phrase that comes up in my mind is: “Don’t judge the book by its cover.”

• Cooking time:organic food takes less time in cooking, so be careful about cooking the organic vegetable as it might burn if you keep it for longer at ignition.

• Price look-up Code:Organic products have a PLU code for each product for fruits, vegetables, Jute, and textiles. For organic fruits and vegetable, PLU code consists of 5 digits and the first number starts with 9. PLU code is a good checker of organic products.

The pandemic situation gives us many reasons to keep ourselves healthy; We hope you keep the above checkpoints in mind while buying organic fruits and vegetables.