Today’s consumer is choosing organic foods more often than just 10 years ago. To support the growing demand for organically produced goods, more food growers and food processors are making the commitment to become certified organic, and a local coffee roaster in Ketchum has just achieved their organic certification as well.
Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee has just gained its official certification as an organic coffee roaster, adding that to their already existing Fair Trade Certification. You might wonder what this means, since it seems that if coffee is grown under certified organic practices, that the coffee roaster needs to do nothing special to ensure its status.
To understand, it’s probably a good idea to understand what certified organic coffee is in the first place. Starting with the grower, coffee is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Then, after coffee is grown and harvested, certified organic handling standards are met throughout the supply chain to ensure that when coffees arrive at the coffee roasters’ doors, the integrity of the organic quality is maintained. Why then, wouldn’t that be considered certified organic coffee, you might ask? Good question!
Liz Roquet, owner of Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee describes it like this. “If you can imagine a quarterback tossing a perfect spiral throw to the receiver, who then runs it 60 yards toward the end zone…but instead of crossing the line for the touchdown, he stops just a yard short, sits down, and calls ‘close enough’ a ‘touchdown’. Well, it’s not a touchdown. And at a yard short, it’s not certified organic either.”
The coffee roaster – the one responsible for the final yard before reaching you, the customer – must also become a certified organic processor for the coffee to be sold as USDA Certified Organic on the label. Roquet says, “It’s a commitment to the organic product, by which we as the roaster ensure that handling, roasting, and packaging methods are performed per certified organic processing standards.”
She goes on to explain “It’s no small commitment, both financially and technically. Every process is documented throughout our production cycle. Coffees can’t be contaminated by non-organic coffees, surfaces, the coffee roaster, or carrying buckets. And everything is audited, down to the soap we use to clean.”
Believe it or not, the use of the term ‘organic’ is still highly abused within many industries, including the coffee industry. Strict labeling requirements define who, how, & where companies can use even the word. It seems like a confusing thing to understand, but the good news is that at the consumer level, we can just look for that little round “USDA Organic” logo on the front packaging of a product claiming certified organic, and know that this is actually what it says it is. The entire supply chain, including the final processor, is certified, and we’re getting the product we’re choosing to consume.
Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee offers 3 Certified Organic & Certified Fair Trade coffees in their offerings, and can be purchased online for pickup at their Ketchum store, or shipped anywhere nationwide.
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