Although my body is hardly a temple, I do make a habit of reading nutrition labels and keeping abreast of what those confusing scientific words mean. So over the past couple of years I've really started to pay attention to which food products contain additives, preservatives, unnatural dyes, and hydrogenated oils. Once I learned what some of this stuff actually was (and what else the active ingredients were used for -- pesticide, for example), the decision to seek out organic foods wasn't a tough one.

Now a lot of companies, seeing the success of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, are looking for ways to incorporate this "organic" buzzword into their product lines. A New York Times piece reports on what some consumer and trade associations feel organic means (or should mean). There are concerns that as manufacturers start throwing around "organic" willy-nilly, any regulation of the term will have to include a wide-enough definition to satisfy corporate interests.

This story comes to the blogosphere via Amuse Bouche, who also wrote an MSNBC article last year about labeling concerns.