We would like to thank Pennsylvania Certified Organic for providing the following succinct summation of organic certification:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires that anyone who produces, processes or handles organic agricultural products must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifier in order to sell, label, or represent their products as "organic." To become certified, an organic producer, processor, or handler must develop, implement, and maintain an organic system plan.

Organic certification is not a guaranty of quality or purity of the product. Rather, it is evidence of the operation's adherence to a prescribed system of agriculture and food production that involves the building and enhancing of the soil naturally, protection of the environment, humane treatment of animals, and avoidance of toxic synthetic substances.