If you missed last Wednesday’s New York Times article about food safety, check it out at this link. One of the subjects covered by writers Kim Severson and Andrew Martin relates to consumer confusion about the meaning of organic labels on food. Some consumers believe “organic” translates into “safe,” but, as the article points out, there is no relation between the two ideas. We have encountered a similar misunderstanding related to our work for Humane Farm Animal Care and its “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” label.

Reporters and consumers make a false connection between humanely raised meat and “organic.” Because an animal is raised humanely, it must be organic, right? We explain that the “Certified Humane” label relates only to how the animal was raised, and though the HFAC standards require that no hormones or  antibiotics be administered, this doesn’t mean the meat from these animals is organic.

We hope the recent food scares related to peanut butter really do improve the way food is inspected in the U.S. At the same time, we hope more consumers will educate themselves about what food labels really mean and make better food choices as a result. One really good source for unbiased food label definitions can be found at Consumers Union’s website.