I've been thinking about making the drive to one of the Houston wholefood stores.

I assume organic means no chemicals used?

The short answer, No.
But much of it is.
I have shopped for produce there for 16 years.

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are there certain standard produce that is not organic?

I think most of them not free from chemicals and that is the modern industries techniques

By law it should mean no chemicals have been used. In practice? I think you have to take people at their word...

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https://holy-lance.blogspot.com

well, if that is what organic means, it would be fraud if they used chemicals.

fraud.

I think what knightofalbion is trying to say is that although it is organic by law, it is not necessarily a good organic. Keep in mind, not all organics are created equal. There exists such a thing as industrial organic, which taps into the organic market for the profit and not because the principles of growing organic. Because of this, they follow what the "law" considers organic but no more than that. That being said, they try to find as many loopholes as they can just go get into the "organic" market. You'd be much safer eating produce from a local farm that you can visit to see if his methods are truly organic than an industrial farm which only "claims" to be organic.

On top of that, to be called organic requires the farmer to pay for the licensing to be organic. Some small time local farmers can't afford this, others simply won't pay it because they have a trusting clientele who can verify that their farming methods are much better than what law considers "organic".

Don't get me wrong, eating organic, whether it is industrial or not, is a hell of a lot better than eating industrial non-organic. But the local, small farm organic is much better than industrial organic. If there is ever a "farmers market" in your area, that would be the best option. Next best would be a local health food store. They usually sell produce grown in the area as well as non local produce. If you can't do either of these, industrial organics are still a great option. You can pretty much find organic, although industrial, at any large grocery store. Fredmeyers, Safeway, Wholefoods and other grocery stores.

The food industry is very corrupt when it comes to the government. You'd be surprised how much money goes in to get things their way. If anyone is interested in this subject, I would strongly recommend the book "Food Politics" by Marion Nestle. (No, she is in no way correlated with the "Nestle" the food company )

NO!

You have to look for the sign on teh produce that says organic. If it says conventional or "fresh from the field" it is not organic. Be very careful there, they have some great stuff, but the occaisional junk product filters in also.

https://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-201

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I wish there was more truth in labeling:

Made with Olive Oil: Contents Water, soy oil, seasonings, extra virgin olive oil coule mean 1 drop of olive oil.

Here's some reading that might interest ya. I just finished posting his second article. There's a pdf link in the second post of each, if you prefer.

SIGNS OF CHANGE OR CLASH OF SYMBOLS?
FDA REGULATION OF NUTRIENT PROFILE LABELING
https://www.proactivehealthnet.com/he...ead.php?t=7296

Banning front-of-package food labels: First Amendment constraints on public health policy
https://www.proactivehealthnet.com/he...ead.php?t=7340

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Not always "Organic"