Identifying Organic

It's important, when your buying organic,  to know how much of the food is actually organic. There are 6 different levels of organic foods. Whether it be processed foods, meats, dairy or produce, each one is labeled so you can identify if it's totally organic or just partially organic.

The first one is easy.  Single ingredient foods like milk, eggs, cheese, meat, veggies or fruit. These are either totally organic or not. May display USDA organic label.

The USDA certified organic
label can be either
green or black.

Multi-Ingredient foods can fall under several categories.

Organic: This means that 95%-99% of the ingredients are organic. The other ingredients are likely unavailable in organic but have been approved by the National Organic Program. The NOP ensures the integrity of USDA organic products around the world. May display the USDA organic seal.

100% Organic: Doesn't get any better than this, right?
May display the USDA organic seal.

Made With Organic Ingredients: This means that it must contain at least 70%-94% of organic ingredients. These products will not have the  USDA label but might list several of the organic ingredients on the front.

Other: Products containing less than 70% organic ingredients may only list them on the information panel and may not use the USDA organic label.

The use of the USDA organic label is optional and might not always be used even if the product is, in fact, organic. If you are shopping at a farmers market, you should feel comfortable asking the vendors how the food was grown.
Salt and water are not included.

Resources: Organic.org, ams.usda.gov,