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FAQs About Our Certified Organic Produce

What is organic food?
How do we know it's organic?
What is "transitional" organic produce and why do you include it in my Fresh Box^™?
Where does the organic produce come from?
Where can I find out more about organic food and related issues?

What is organic food?

Organic food is food grown and processed the way nature intended: without synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics or genetic modification. The result? Minimal impact on the environment and better-tasting, naturally good food on your table. Producing, buying and eating organic food benefits both you and the environment. Organic agriculture promotes and enhances biodiversity; limits the amount of toxins we ingest; lessens water, air and land pollution; and reduces or eliminates illnesses experienced by consumers and by farmers and farm workers who work in fields where chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used.

According to the National Organic Standards Board, the primary goal of organic agriculture is to "optimize the health and productivity of the interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people."
Here's what HORIZON Distributors, PSC Natural Foods and The Ontario Federation of Food Co-Ops have to say about organics:

Organic farming techniques have fed humankind for thousands of years. While it's true that agricultural development was by no means perfected before the advent of chemical agriculture — poor yields and crop losses were prevalent — we are discovering that chemicals did not really solve these problems but only covered them up for a while and at the same time caused environmental havoc on our planet. Organic farmers reject the philosophy that we must poison our environment to produce enough food for us all to eat. The time has come for modern agriculture to fuse the wisdom of ecological farming with modern techniques to create a high-yielding, sustainable farming system. Today, modern organic farmers are sowing the seeds of such a system.

How do we know it's organic?

Everything in your Fresh Box^™ is guaranteed organic by one of many third-party certification agencies. Agencies that have stringent standards and whom must comply with the Canadian Organic Regime (as of 2009 - click here for a list of those agencies). Individual produce will often bear the name of its certifying agency: have a look at the labels on your produce. Note also that the serial numbers on organic produce labels ALWAYS start with the number '9'.

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What is "transitional" organic produce and why do you include it in my Fresh Box^™?

"Transitional" organic produce, as its name suggests, comes from farms that are in the process of switching from conventional to organic farming methods. In order to be certified organic, produce must come from farms and fields that have been farmed organically for three years. A certified organic apple, for example, is one that comes from an orchard where organic farming methods have been used for three or more years. Occasionally, we will call your attention to a "transitional" product in your Fresh Box^™. We include such produce on occasion, but we do include it because we believe that farmers should be encouraged and supported in the decision to switch to organic methods of agriculture.

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Where does the organic produce come from?

Depending on the season, your Fresh Box^™ will contain organic produce from many farms in Ontario, other Canadian provinces, different points in North America and occasionally from further afield. Because of the high environmental toll posed by flying, however, nothing in your box travels to our Toronto warehouse by air.

The closer to home our food is grown, the shorter distance it has to travel to reach our plates. Eating locally reduces the impact of food production on the environment. Front Door Organics works hard to support Ontario organic farmers by including as much locally grown produce as possible in each Fresh Box^™. During the local growing season we offer the wildly popular Go Ontario! Fresh Box^™ - a custom box for only $37 if you customize it with all Ontario produce to encourage and promote local buying preferences.

We have built strong relationships with many local farmers and distributors, and we work closely with them as they plan for the upcoming Ontario growing season. This communication and commitment to purchase offers an important measure of stability in an otherwise uncertain environment. We also support Ontario organic farmers’ right to fair prices; and fair wages and working conditions for farm workers. Check out ‘Our Farming Friends’ to find out more about who we buy from and ‘Our Buying Practices’ for the low down on our purchasing commitments.

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Where can I find out more about organic food and related issues?

Here are some useful places to begin. If you come across a particularly worthwhile link, please let us know.

Canadian Organic Growers is Canada's national membership-based education and networking organization representing farmers, gardeners and consumers in all provinces. FDO is a member.

Organic Council of Ontario is a membership-based non-profit association representing the organic sector in Ontario at a provincial and national level. The Organic Council of Ontario represents all groups (including producers, processors, marketers, distributors, suppliers, certifiers, retailers, restaurants and others), providing leadership and supporting the continued growth of Ontario's organic sector. FDO is member.

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based business association that focuses on the organic business community in North America. OTA's mission is to promote and protect the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public and the economy.

CBAN (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network are a non-profit collaborative who campaign for food sovereignty and environmental justice in Canada - they are particularly active in fighting Genetic Engineering.