Entering a grocery store, buyers are often bombarded with seemingly all-important yet ill-defined terms; words like “organic”, “sustainable”, or – perhaps the most pernicious culprit – “natural.” But what do these terms actually mean? And how can consumers know if the foods they’re buying - usually at a premium - were grown or raised in an organic environment? The US Department of Agriculture, or USDA, is tasked with setting minimum organic standards that farms of all sizes must meet, and then ensuring compliance with those standards. “Starting in 2002, federal regulations were governed to create a minimal standard for organic. So in a nutshell it means: for a minimum of three years before having the right to use that label, a farmer must shun almost all use of toxic agrochemicals. In terms of caring for their animals, it means there are no antibiotics and many other drugs, like synthetic parasiticides, poisons that might end up in the tissue of the animal, or the milk, or the meat, or