Fruit that has been allowed to ripen on the vine or tree instead of being plucked early to “ripen” via treatment with ethylene gas during long-distance shipments to retail locations.

Generally, these terms mean that the product was made by hand with great care and high-quality ingredients. They are most frequently applied to items like bread, chocolate, cheese, vinegars and jam

Based on the work of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, this method of farming is rooted in a holistic understanding of nature. It involves treating the farm and the soil as living organisms that need to be nourished and replenished, as well as used for their resources.

Cage-free birds live in large houses in flocks of several thousand. While they might never go outside, they are able to walk around, spread their wings, and lay eggs in nests. There is no regulated definition of this term.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and Agriculture Marketing Service evaluate meat products for class, grade, and other quality characteristics. Their findings are then represented on food labels as “Certified,” such as “Certified Angus Beef.” The word “Certified” can also mean a product meets standards defined by a third-party, non [..]

Products that are created via standard practices accepted by the agriculture industry are often called “conventional.” This isn’t an official term, but it implies that the product did not undergo any special production or certification processes, which means it may include pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, or genetically modified traits. It may al [..]

A market-based approach to reducing poverty and empowering farmers in developing countries by encouraging fair wages and labor conditions and promoting environmental sustainability. TransFair USA is the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, which carry the official “Fair Trade Certified

The American Cheese Society classifies a cheese as “farmstead” if it is made with milk from the producer’s herd or flock and crafted on the farm where the animals are raised.

This term, gaining in popularity, indicates the interconnected nature of a local food system. In the same way a rivershed is comprised of diverse, interdependent plant and animal species, a foodshed is made up of local and regional food producers, their customers, and the retailers (food co-ops, farmers’ markets, and independent grocers) that carry [..]

The USDA definition of this term applies only to poultry meat (not eggs) and suggests that animals were raised in an unconfined environment. However, the USDA’s requirement that chickens “must be allowed access to the outside” is somewhat vague and does not include any minimum amount of time for outdoor access. “Free-range” labels on beef, pork, an [..]