To earn the meaningful labels you see on foods, products and companies must go through a comprehensive third-party review, either by a government body like the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or by another certifying organization, to be sure the product and company practices abide by the qualifications of that label. Having an outsider verify products’ contents, sourcing, production or other characteristics described by the label helps to assure labels aren’t used on products that don’t qualify.

USDA Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified are two of these powerful, meaningful, third-party certified labels.

At the highest level, organic foods have not been genetically modified, but non-GMO foods may or may not be organic. Organic is an umbrella term, with non-GMO beneath it as one of its qualifications.

USDA Certified Organic food has been produced, from farm to package, within guidelines determined by USDA, which prohibits the use of GMOs. In addition, organic farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, or sewage sludge-based fertilizers, among other finer details.

On the flip side, non-GMO food and food with the Non-GMO Project Verified label can be grown using any practices that don’t involve genetic modification. So, non-GMO food might be certified organic, and it might not be – you have to check the label to be sure.

In addition, the labels on a package might not always tell the full story. For example, many products on the market that come from small, independent farmers are produced 100% organically, but because the USDA Certified Organic seal is not free, the cost may be prohibitive for those farmers to be able to use the seal on their products, or there may be other reasons they’ve chosen not to go through organic certification. Hence the term "natural" is used to describe Ferndale Turkeys.
 

In brief:

Organic: All ingredients were organically grown with no added ingredients and without pesticides. To be considered organic, the farm needs to satisfy FDA requirements.

• More Expensive: Organic meat and the feed the meat eats are more expensive because it is more labor-intensive to grow organic products than other types. It is also costly to fulfill the FDA’s requirements to become an organic farm.
• Enhanced Biodiversity: Organic farmers implement systems to promote biodiversity because their animals forage for naturally occurring grasses and grubs.
• No Growth-Promoting Hormones: There cannot be any growth-promoting hormones in organic food.

Non-GMO: No genetically modified organisms are included in this animal.

• Less expensive: With fewer government regulations at play, Non-GMO all-natural food is typically less expensive than organic.
• Less Regulation: The Non-GMO Project is a single-issue certification; the only thing the Non-GMO Project tests for is GMOs.