How to Read Organic Labels in Korea

This is the first part of a series for the people I love and for strangers in Korea looking for more than what they are getting.

The first premise is that organic food is safe to eat. There is better nutrition and natural material in organic plant or animal food.

The second premise of this entry is that we conventional foods are not safe to eat and are nutritionally deficient.

The third premise is that the safest way to know what food you can eat is to grow it or kill it yourself. Our options are limited to buying in a city environment. However, the labeling is confusing and the story isn't complete. The best principles of organic farming are using natural and ancient techniques which not indicated on the labels.

There are several ways to fill in the knowledge gaps. However for now I will stick to the labeling.

I often hear from my friends, "Greg the labels are confusing."

The labels imply certain qualities by stating what they do not have in them. The labeling applies to plants for all three categories and for animals for two categories.

The best option is the far left label on in the picture below.  유기농 (yoo-gi-nong) is for plants grown without pesticides or herbicides and without fossil fuel fertilizers. The second option applies for animals and plants in which no chemicals are used. This is good for the animal category because it means the eggs and animal meats do not have antibiotics in them. The third option means that the fruit is grown with half pesticides.

*note that these labels are for plants but are almost the same for animals.

The colors are the same and the first words in the label are the same: 유기, 무농,  and 적농

The labeling above good for plants, but I could see the options improved for animals. The reason for my opinion is the ethical treatment of animals. Not eating concentration camp animals is important to me. Without antibiotic use in the animals implies that they have to treat the animals well and not crave them in cages. However, I want more than small cages for these animals. I want the story.

 Harim, is a vilage that grows raised chickens. They are raised on a small scale.I at least no from the labeling that no antibiotics. That implies to me that if no antibiotics are used than they have to be fed a healthier diet. With a healthier diet they were healthier animals and happier animals. 

The blue label 무농 label indicates no antibiotics were used.

I have only seen eggs and chicken with this 무농 labeling in the mainstream stores. In better stores I have seen beef with 유기농 labeling. Organic pork I haven't seen anywhere. Fish doesn't have this labeling. A lot of fish in Korea is sea caught, but some varieties are now being grown on farms. This could make it hard for people to know distinguish healthy seafood from unhealthy seafood.