Natural and organic foods have become a staple in most households, with more and more people understanding the importance of sustainable food.
There is also a lot of convoluted terminology and new buzz-words coming out regularly, which seems to create confusion in the health and natural food sector, with consumers becoming overwhelmed with the complexity of it all.
In this article we look at (in our opinion) the two most important categories of foods, which is natural and organic.
Natural foods are any foods that have been minimally processed and do not contain hormones, antibiotics or artificial flavours. It is a product that is in the same state as it is found in nature. These food products tend to have more flavour and are considered better for us as they contain less of the unnecessary additives found in conventional foods. However, one of the challenges for consumers, when it comes to natural foods, is the fact that this particular category is relatively unregulated, meaning that certain manufacturers can place ’natural’ on products that don’t fit within this segment.
Which brings us to organic foods. This is the most regulated food system, with rigorous certification criteria placed on manufacturers and brands. These regulations consist of regular, unannounced certification inspections by third-party inspectors to ensure that the products being produced are truly organic.
In essence, organic foods are foods that are produced free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or chemicals.And animal products come from livestock that are fed natural feed, without hormones or antibiotics. Not only are these foods better for us, but they are better for the environment, with producers utilising natural forms of pest control and soil rejuvenation methods, that are found in nature.
