What Does It Mean to Be USDA Organic?

Choosing USDA Organic products is a sure way to avoid the thousands of toxins that are present in agriculturally-derived products, which are heavily treated with pesticides or preservatives. Puristry is proudly USDA Certified, which means we’ve done the investigative work for you, to help you avoid those pesky toxins that have a nasty habit of infiltrating parts of our body where they don’t belong. When choosing organic you’re choosing to avoid slathering your skin with skin-stripping chemicals, harsh detergents, and toxic synthetics. Good choice, indeed!

The Value in Buying Organic

While organic products are often overlooked by the majority for being more expensive than their conventional competition, the informed crowd won’t complain; they understand the value that these products bring to the table. While it certainly seems backwards that organic products are more expensive than conventional for companies to produce and customers to buy, there’s a deeply ingrained business model in the U.S. food business that perpetuates this imbalance.

Due to a decades-long, high demand for cheap and easy ingredients and low demand for quality ingredients, it’s simply more difficult to find organic ingredients to source. And as with a nice house in the ideal but limited space neighborhood, they’re then more expensive to purchase, too. For those companies growing their own organic ingredients, they’re consciously avoiding the non-organic chemicals and growth hormones meant to speed up crops in order to churn out more in less time. This means it takes organic farmers longer to grow and process the same ingredient as their conventional competitor, meaning higher labor and agricultural costs.

When companies who want to produce organic goods finally obtain enough ingredients to make their products, they’ll need to spend the time and money to get them certified by a third party, reputable certifier. Conventional products have few regulations necessary to get produced, which is why they’re much cheaper to buy. An organic certification provides customers with peace of mind that what they’re eating, wearing, or applying to their bodies is safe to use and has been responsibly sourced.

The Four Categories of Organic

Skin care products are labeled as organic when the formula is comprised of agricultural products or ingredients. Each product in the Pursitry collection is labeled USDA Organic, which means that 100% of the agricultural products in our formula have been screened and proven to be organic. There are 4 different types of labels for products that contain organic agricultural ingredients. The information below was taken from the USDA website:

• 100 percent organic - Product must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients. Products may display the USDA Organic Seal and must display the certifying agent’s name and address.
• Organic - Product must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt). Remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List or nonorganically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form, also on the National List. Products may display the USDA Organic Seal and must display the certifying agent’s name and address.
• Made with organic ingredients - Products contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients and product label can list up to three of the organic ingredients or “food” groups on the principal display panel. For example, body lotion made with at least 70 percent organic ingredients (excluding water and salt) and only organic herbs may be labeled either “body lotion made with organic lavender, rosemary, and chamomile,” or “body lotion made with organic herbs.” Products may not display the USDA Organic Seal and must display the certifying agent’s name and address.
• Less than 70 percent organic ingredients - Products cannot use the term “organic” anywhere on the principal display panel. However, they may identify the specific ingredients that are USDA-certified as being organically produced on the ingredients statement on the information panel. Products may not display the USDA Organic Seal and may not display a certifying agent’s name and address. (Water and salt are also excluded here.)

Puristry uses the USDA Organic seal on the front of its packaging to let you know that our products are formulated with 100% Organic ingredients, including all of our oils and extracts.

These high quality, unrefined and cold-processed oils come from organic fruits and seeds, as well as other beneficial agricultural ingredients like anti-inflammatory cedarwood bark and skin soothing lavender.

You can rest easy knowing that the skin care you’re trusting to pamper your delicate skin is both safe and certified; Puristry products will always be held to the strict standards that the USDA sets forth for regulating organic cosmetics. Want to know about the rest of your personal care regimen? You can learn more about the National Organic Program and how it relates to cosmetics here.

Now that you have a starter’s guide to understanding what it takes for products to be USDA Certified Organic, we hope you’re just as excited as we are about Puristry skincare Check it out!