Organic Consumer Buying Guide: Summer 2018

  • June 1, 2018

What does ‘Certified Organic’ mean?

On PEI, ‘certified organic’ means food grown on a farm according to specific organic practices as defined by the Canadian Organic Standards and regulated nationally by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Each farm is inspected annually by a qualified third party inspector and each inspected farm is issued a certificate.

General principles of organic production:

  • Principle of health: Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plants, animals, humans, and the planet as one and indivisible.
  • Principle of ecology: Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles with them, emulate them and help sustain them.
  • Principle of fairness: Organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness to the common environment and life opportunities.
  • Principle of rare: Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.
  • Prohibited Substances, Materials, or Techniques
    • All products and materials from genetic engineering (GE)
    • All products, materials or processes intentionally using nanotechnology
    • Irradiation
    • Soil amendments that aren’t certified organic
    • Sewage sludge
    • Synthetic crop production aids and materials
    • Synthetic growth regulators
    • Cloned livestock
    • Synthetic allopathic veterinary drugs, including antibiotics and parasiticides
    • Synthetic substances
    • Equipment, harvest, and storage containers, storage facilities and packaging materials treated with synthetic fungicides, preservatives, fumigants, and pesticides

For a complete guide to organics and its standards in Canada please visit the Government of Canada’s Organic Agriculture page.

Maybe you are out on the town and want to eat somewhere that supports local, certified organic farmers? Perhaps you’re having a cookout and looking for some fresh veggies to oil and toss on the grill. Or better yet, maybe you’re looking for that perfect thirst-quenching sip of cold kombucha on a blistering hot beach day.

Whatever your M.O., there is no need to panic! We have compiled for you a non-exhaustive, yet fully-packed buying guide to find mouth, belly, and spirit satisfying organics this growing season. Product availability changes often with local food so if there is a particular item you are looking for, be sure to contact the producer, market, or retailer prior to arriving. Also, if you are heading to a farm gate or market venue, be sure to have some of that crisp, cold hard cash on you. Hanna Hameline, source organicpei.com

About Hanna Hameline

Hanna is a graduate of UPEI with a B.A. in Sociology. She has completed trainings in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Shambhala Meditation, and Maritime Yoga College 200-HR Yoga teacher training program. Hanna currently works as the communications coordinator for the PEI Certified Organic Producers Co-operative and has volunteered with PEI Food Security Network, ECO PEI, The Voluntary Resource Centre, and Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. She warmly invites you to contact her with any food lovin’ stories or ideas you would like written about.

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