Saturday, December 27, 1997

Organic foods glad to become federally ruled

For some industries, getting regulated by the feds is about as much fun as having teeth drilled, but that's scarcely the case with the organic food folks. For the first time, the U.S. government is promulgating organic food standards, and spokesmen for the industry seem as excited and pleased as if they were off to a party.

The reasons for good cheer are clear enough, starting with the fact that the regulations show so-called natural foods have come of age, that they are no longer just the favorite meal-time experience of flower children and other counter-culture enthusiasts, but that they also have plentiful fans of the mainstream persuasion.

Organic foods, it is reported, are now generating an impressive $3.5 billion in sales a year. While they still represent no more than 1 percent of all food sales, the sales have been growing at a rate of about 20 percent a year for the past seven or eight years. Something like a quarter of all shoppers now purchase organic foods once a week.

But it's not just the legitimacy conferred on the industry -- or the prosperity thus signified -- that makes federal intrusion welcome. A more practical reason for applauding it is that the 12,000 farms harvesting organic foods will soon be freed of dealing with a mishmash of state regulations and private certification programs.

Not only will the rules of the game be standardized, but the growers should be able to get a sales-boosting Department of Agriculture label -- "ORGANIC" -- on the products and should have less to fear from purist pretenders who actually use pesticides, hormones and synthetic chemicals in raising animals or growing crops.

So we extend congratulations to the industry, at the same time feeling obliged to note that, properly controlled, the hated pesticides and other chemicals are safe and environmentally sound. Their use has made it possible to feed far more people far more cheaply than could ever be dreamed of with strictly natural methods, and their nutritional value has helped produce one of the healthiest, strongest populations in human history. We propose a pluralistic toast -- a veggie toast -- to both kinds of agriculture.