Certified organic teas: does it matter?
Pesticide spraying in California
…at the height of industrialization of agriculture in the West… huge landmass was converted into deserts of a single plant each… (USDA Photo by: Charles O’Rear | permission: PD-USGOV-USDA)
How much does it matter to use certified organic teas? This is a question originally posted by Mariël van de Weert in Europe, where she also asked, “Do tea-growers who are not certified organic use a lot of bad stuff like fertilizer, pesticides etc?”
Before I present an answer to the question, I’d like be understood that I believe in the practice and wisdom of traditional farming not using any chemicals or genetically modified seeds or seedlings. In fact, a few personal friends are organic farmers and organic certification agents. However, this does not mean I am supportive of the organic certification movement that is its current state. Much less for tea. Answering this question with facts and a gestalt view will not make me more popular, but I have to tell what I see and what I believe is important.
Maximum Residual Levels
Something to relax you first: the EU has the world’s most stringent requirements on the level of chemical residual contents ( Maximum Residual Levels — MRLs, normally in units of decimals of mg/kg, or parts per million ) in food products (1). In order for a tea to pass this standard to import to Europe (2), the leaves are examined the same way as a leafy vegetable. That is to say, if the tea passes the test, it is as safe as a vegetable to eat. Well, almost, the absolute values of MRLs of some of the contents are a bit more relaxed in tea. Read the data in the attached link to find out, but consider this: the weight of tealeaves is without water but that of the veggie is, and that a person wouldn’t normally eat 50 grams of dried tealeaves for a salad. Then you’ll probably agree with me that the requirements for tea is actually a lot more strict than even fruits and veggie.
That is for tea without the organic certification.
Not all certified organic produce are residue free
Not all certified organic produce are residue free (3). In fact, 20% of them aren’t (4). The environment is filled with all sorts of chemicals that may come into contact with the produce in one phase or the other, and some producers may not follow strictly the organic management process. Certification standard also varies dramatically from one country to another, one agent to another. That 20% is not even counting those labels that say organic but without a proper certification, or with one from an unreliable agent.
A few years ago, reporters discovered that many of the products sold in a certain giant brand tea company in the US had a few hundred times the FDA allowed pesticide contents but were labelled as organic and EU compliance (5). They are still selling similar products today.
Well, that does not mean we should relent in the efforts for minimizing contamination to our environment and our bodies. Is organic certification the only way to do it? Let’s look at what certifying a product as “organic” really means and what reality is.
Organic farming vs Industrialization of agriculture
Ants, bugs, worms, peats, weeds, and other plants form a micro-ecology with the dominating tea bushes… chickens wander through such “free-range” tea bushes. This is traditional farming, not necessarily “organic”. More in the next page…
The organic movement began in the 1960’s, when some small farmers felt that it was time to abandon the extensive use of chemicals in agriculture so they started to promote traditional and/or natural ways of production and productivity management. That was at the height of industrialisation of agriculture in the West, when huge landmasses were converted into deserts of a single plant type, and pesticides and fertilisers were sprayed from aeroplanes. Smaller farms were threatened of their existence. The idea of organic farm products was a trust between some of these farmers and the consumers in pockets of communities in Europe and North America. They had faith in traditional practices. All the while, however, many more small farmers in under-developed countries had used no other ways than the traditional ones. That was until the practice of using chemicals spread from large agricultural companies in the West to the East, from large farms to small farms.
What traditional farming was like
On this note, I have some personal experience to share. When I was a young teenager going to visit my parents’ ancestral villages in Mainland China in the 1970’s, one most unforgettable sight was the communal septic pool that is one patch of land amongst the crisscross of all other tiny fields of various produces. My relatives explained to me how human wastes should be thoroughly fermented and diluted before use as fertilizer, especially for the vegetables. The only thing concerned me most at that time was how everybody passing the narrow mud paths around the pool and not afraid of accidentally falling into it. And how they put up with the smell even though that big square hole in the ground was on the far side of the village.
Another great thing was emptying the fish pond to spade the soil on the pond bed for use as replenishment in paddy fields. All the men and some women worked through the night, most with their bare feet sunk in the brightly brown, half-dried, clay-like, evenly flat and cracked surface, spottily lit by big kerosene lamps dangling on bamboo poles. I wouldn’t want to step in there, imagining the squishy feeling between the toes, where the fish used to swim above and defecate upon.
Thanks very much for the information, I hope the traditional methods and practices will continue. As much as I like to drink tea (and try to copy what they do in the old style Chinese martial arts movies), I’m willing to pay for very good tea-and you should see the collection of puerh I already have. Thanks.