Friday, July 12, 2013

AGAIN, THE CERTIFIED ORGANIC DILEMMA



At Indochine Natural we are sometimes bemused when searching for and evaluating new ingredients for new products that we are developing. Here is a set of ingredients for LIQUORICE ROOT EXTRACT - CERTIFIED ORGANIC by Australian Certified Organic (ACO) who are Australia's largest certifier for organic and biodynamic produce.

  • Ingredients: Certified Organic Glycerine, Aqua, Certified Organic Glycyrrhiza glabra, Parfum (Naticide ®*), Potassium sorbate.

The Nationwide and Potassium sorbate are described as "natural" preservatives, and obviously are not organic. Commercially, most sorbic acid is produced by reacting crotonaldehyde with ketene in the presence of a catalyst. Mmmm, doesn't sound too "natural" to me.

Now Naticide is another interesting case. I have contacted the manufacturer, and the response was that the contents of Naticide are ‘confidential.' So who knows? How are we able  to determine that Naticide is "natural."

For consumers then, manufacturers may only declare on their ingredient labels "organic Liquorice Root Extract" and nobody is the wiser!!

Regards from a befuddled Dr. Mike......I am obviously having issues with language here....doesn't natural mean natural and organic mean organic?

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