5 Surprising Ingredients Allowed in Organic Food

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5 Surprising Ingredients Allowed in Organic Food

Written by Mother Jones |

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certified organic Sunday's New York Times piece on the corporatization of organics (which I commented on here ) got me to thinking: What are the weirdest additives the USDA allows in food labeled "organic"? Here are five.

1. Carrageenan
Made from seaweed and used as a thickener and stabilizer for certain dairy products like cottage cheese and yogurt, carrageenan is probably the most controversial organic additive. Joanne K. Tobacman, an associate professor of medicine at University of Illinois-Chicago, claims that carrageenan causes intestinal inflammation, and she petitioned the USDA not to approve it for organic food. The organic watchdog group Cornucopia Institute notes that according to USDA organic code, nonorganic ingredients like carrageenan can only be introduced into certified-organic food when they are deemed "essential" to the manufacture of a given product. The group argues that carrageenan should not have been deemed essential, because some organic dairy companies don't use it

Read the entire article @ Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/07/five-weirdest-ingredients-allowed-organic-food

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