Question

Read the passage and answer the following question(s).

The Meaning of "Organic"
1
For many people, the word “organic” evokes the image of Mother Nature at her finest. People hear “organic” and imagine mom-and-pop family farms of green fields and blue skies producing pure, delicious, healthy food. However, unlike many buzzwords that advertisers add to products to entice shoppers to purchase them (such as “delicious,” “one-of-a-kind,” and “best”), “organic” is more than just a buzzword used to sell products. It’s a denomination that cannot come from advertisers but results only from the approval of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

2
First of all, to produce foods that can be called organic, a farm has to be certified by government inspectors. Any farm wanting to earn that status has to undergo a three-year conversion. The first two years are spent increasing the fertility of the soil. By the third year, the farm’s products can carry the “organic” label. A farm certified as organic has to emphasize the use of renewable resources and focus on conserving soil and water quality. It has to help preserve a clean environment for the future.

3
Additionally, fruits and vegetables labeled as organic have to be grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, bioengineering, or radiation. They also cannot be fertilized with sewage sludge, which is sometimes spread on the fields of conventional farms. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy cannot be given antibiotics or growth hormones if their products are to be called organic. On organic farms, animals need to be fed with 100% organic food and provided with access to the outdoors—not always the case on conventional farms.

4
The end result of this certification process is food on supermarket shelves with three very specific labels. “100% Organic” is a label given to products that are made entirely of organic ingredients. “Organic” describes foodstuffs with at least 95% organic ingredients. “Made with Organic Ingredients” is used for food containing at least 70% organic ingredients. There are also very specific restrictions on the remaining 30% of ingredients for food bearing that label.

5
Even with these USDA guidelines, however, “organic” may not always mean what everyone thinks. Today, many of the organic products found on supermarket shelves aren’t produced on family-owned farms at all. Instead, they are produced by large agribusinesses that bought up those farms once it became clear how lucrative the organic market was becoming. In 2010, consumers spent nearly $27 billion on organic food and drink. That means that shoppers who opt to purchase organic yogurt or granola bars are giving their money to the same corporations as those who choose to eat heavily processed snack foods or soda. Such products, concocted of a brew of unhealthy and artificial ingredients, are not the kind of products most shoppers who are seeking organic foods want to support.

6
To the chagrin of many of these shoppers, organic food may not directly equate to healthier food, either. A recent study out of Stanford University found that organic fruits and vegetables were no more nutritious than fruits and vegetables produced conventionally. The same was true regarding organic meats. In addition, the study found that bacteria like E. coli were as likely to be found on organic food as on nonorganic.

7
Still, there are many strong arguments for buying organic, even if organic products frequently cost more. To begin, many people and many chefs believe organic foods taste better, even if there’s no scientific evidence to support that. Numerous studies have also shown that organic farming is better for the environment because of its restrictions on pesticide and chemical use. New evidence appearing in respected scientific journals also argues that organic produce may be more nutritious than nonorganic in specific ways. A recent study from the University of California at Davis, for example, found higher levels of vitamin C in organic tomatoes than were found in their conventional counterparts. The Stanford study also concedes that even if it couldn’t claim organic foods were more nutritious than nonorganic ones, it did find them 30% less likely to be contaminated with pesticide residue.



Select two ways in which the author uses rhetoric to develop the argument in this text.

A.
The author includes allusions to famous people and events to support his claims.

B.
The author relies on the connotations of words to help him express his point of view.

C.
The author uses repeated understatement to make problems seem smaller than they are.

D.
The author focuses the audience’s attention through a series of rhetorical questions.

E.
The author presents appeals to logic and reason by citing scientific studies.

Answer 1

B and E.

- B: The author uses connotative language (“Mother Nature,” “mom-and-pop,” “buzzwords”) to shape readers’ impressions.
- E: The author appeals to logic by citing USDA rules, certification processes, and scientific studies (Stanford, UC Davis) and statistics to support claims.