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Is it organic? How can you be sure?

by Mischa Popoff, Is it Organic?

Sedona, AZ - Without third-party, unannounced testing, many consumers and farmers are losing faith in the once-mighty certified organic label.

Are you sometimes just a little bit suspicious when you see something labeled as certified organic?

Don’t feel bad. Organics should be good and wholesome, but it’s become completely bureaucratic with no real checks and balances.

Imagine how many world records would be broken at the next Olympics if they quit testing athletes.

Imagine if they required only a dated and signed list of all the things athletes ingested over the last four years in order to “prove” they were clean. Well that’s precisely how the organic industry runs.

It doesn’t matter how many forms, affidavits, records or fines the industry imposes, there’s simply no possible way to get caught cheating. It’s like setting up a speed trap with no radar gun. Imagine if restaurants got a warning before the health inspector showed up, and then when he did show up there was no testing? Anyone with common sense wouldn’t even consider this as an inspection.

The organic industry has lost site of its original goals to provide healthier food while achieving a healthier environment.

Here’s the issue from the point of view of some respected voices in Ag and Financial journalism:

Organic producers face mountains of paperwork, but the system is largely ineffective in controlling fraud and negligence. Popoff claims the vast majority of independent organic farmers follow the rules [but] plant samples can be tested in the middle of the growing season to help ensure organic practices are actually being followed.

"Agriculture faces increasing consumer scrutiny," - Kevin Hursh, The StarPhoenix, © 2008.

Many consumers think organic food has been tested for pesticides. But organic certifiers spend most of their time shuffling papers. Conscientious farmers go to a lot of trouble to be organic, so they worry about competing with cheaters who just want the price premiums that an organic label can command. Popoff argues that routine pesticide tests could catch cheaters, the way that drug tests snare doped athletes.

“Do-Gooders Who Could Do Better,” – Bill Alpert, Senior Editor, Barron’s, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., © 2007.

The sad fact of the matter is that farmers pay dearly to be certified organic but get no protection against unfair competition from those who commit fraud. The result is that consumers pay healthy premiums for certified organic food which for all they know is complete hogwash.

Many farmers and consumers support the principles of organics, but probably wouldn’t sanction the monumental bureaucratic system that surrounds organics if only they knew the extent to which it distorts true sustainability. After growing up on an organic grain farm, and working for five years in the United States and Canada as an Advanced Organic Inspector, I decided to launch a movement to provide some checks and balances by testing organic farms and livestock at the farm. One random, unannounced test per farm per year is all that’s required.

Organic farmers the world over are embracing this simple concept, and consumers can finally look for the Is It Organic? logo on the label and rest assured that the organic food they buy was indeed tested at the farm.

Anyone concerned with where the organic industry is going can visit this website: http://www.isitorganic.ca, and view the further media coverage this concept has garnered the world over.

Something is finally being done to prevent the disintegration of organics.

About Is It Organic?

After graduating from university, Mischa Popoff worked for five years as an Advanced Organic Inspector in the United States and Canada. He performed over 500 inspections and saw fraud and negligence, but was powerless to do anything about it under the current system. He runs the world’s first organic crop and livestock testing company with his wife Sherry who has degrees in mathematics and business.




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