Organic food is all the rage! Europeans are increasingly eating organic, even though there's a crisis on. But what does organic mean and is it really good for us?

A-Z: O for Organic Food

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16201545/j002-0115-en.srt

Take the 12 stars of the European flag  on one side, a mint leaf on the other.

This label must be  on all European organic products.

Organic food  comes from organic farming.

It's produced  while protecting the environment.

farmers must use  the most natural methods possible,

respecting the cycles  of the earth, plants and animals.

1. Vary the crops every year  so as not to impoverish the soil.

Choose species suitable for the region  and alternate them.

2. Avoid chemicals as much as possible  when enriching the soil or plants,

when protecting crops against disease  and insects, or when treating animals.

3. No growing of genetically modified  organisms, the famous GMOs.

4. As much as possible,  use the farm's own resources:

the animals' manure to feed the soil,  and crops to feed the animals.

In practice, an organic chicken  looks like this.

On this organic farm  there are 4,800 chickens.

It seems like a lot but it's not compared  to industrial farms with 50,000 chickens.

Organic chickens have more space  than ordinary ones.

One square metre inside the shed  for 10 birds.

Four square metres each outdoors  to stretch their legs.

And you can't give them  just anything to eat.

On the menu it's all organic.  Over to the farmer...

For the 4,800 chickens  we have inside here,

In addition, the feed  obviously has to be organic.

That's all good, but apparently since 2009

livestock can be fed on  non-European products.

So how can we be sure  that organic animals

only eat organic?  Over to the controller...

We can take as many samples  as we want.

We send it to the laboratory  and they can see

if there are any pesticides,  fungicides or other products

which are not allowed  in biological agriculture.

So organic is natural. It's guaranteed  by the European organic label.

But not really 100%  as it's practically impossible

to check the whole organic chain  in the whole European Union,

So the Euro-leaf accepts foods  with 5% of non-organic ingredients.

If you like organics,  look out for the Euro-leaf.