Demystifying Growth Labels

Posted by Janie Franz Categories: Lists, Shopping, Trends, Food Trivia, Organic

Here’s a quick guide to all of those food labels you find in your supermarket:

Certified Organic: Produce grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. 

Fair Trade: Foods grown and harvested by companies that offer a living wage and acceptable working and living conditions.

Free-range: Chickens allowed to graze in a large open lot and not housed in cages. Some beef and bison are free-range and may be given some grain during the last few weeks to fatten them up. This doesn’t harm the animal nor expose it to antibiotics.

Grass-fed or Pasture-fed: Animals that have grazed on pasture land and fed only grass and may be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones. 

Locally Grown:  Food raised locally, usually within a few miles from where you buy it.  This does not mean that the food is organically grown or grown using any sustainable agricultural methods.

No Antibiotics: No Growth Hormones: Meat from animals raised without antibiotics and growth hormones.

Shade Grown: Chocolate or coffee grown in the understory of the rainforest, usually at higher elevations.

Sustainably Caught Seafood: Usually caught with a hook and line, with limited by-catch, and includes dolphin-safe tuna.

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