Organic, Natural, Artisan: Three Words That Do Not Mean the Same Thing

Organic farming in Italy is no longer a niche: land farmed organically has passed 2.5 million hectares, 20.2% of the national utilised agricultural area, with more than 97,000 certified operators. But while “organic” is a word protected by law, “natural” and “artisan” are not. On a shelf, that difference matters more than it looks.

What the word "organic" actually guarantees

Since 1 January 2022 European organic production has been governed by Regulation (EU) 2018/848, which replaced the earlier Reg. (EC) 834/2007. To use the word “organic”, or the green leaf logo, a product must meet precise, verifiable rules.

• No GMOs — neither in the raw material nor in processing ingredients.
• No synthetic chemical pesticides and no synthetic fertilisers in the field.
• Crop rotation and soil fertility managed by agronomic means.
• Animal welfare to standards above the legal minimum.
• Annual inspections by accredited certification bodies, whose identifying code appears on the label.

European organic rests on the principles of the Codex Alimentarius (guidelines GL 32–1999), which sets the international standard: an Italian organic product therefore follows a logic comparable to an American USDA Organic or a Japanese JAS one. It is not a producer's self-declaration: it is a system with a third party doing the checking.

"Natural": a word food law does not define

Here is the surprise. “Natural” has no legal definition in food. There is no set of rules, no body policing its use, no threshold to meet. It is a commercial claim, and should be read as one.

That does not mean whoever writes it is lying: it means the word on its own cannot be verified. A “100% natural” juice may well be excellent, but the adjective says nothing about how the fruit was grown. The only way to know is to read the ingredient list and look for the control body code.

"Artisan": a method, not a raw material

“Artisan” describes how something is made — small batches, hand work, open-kettle cooking rather than a continuous line — not what it is made from. A preserve can be entirely artisan and start from conventionally grown fruit. A sauce can be certified organic and come out of a plant producing a hundred thousand jars a day.

The two do not exclude each other and do not overlap: they measure different axes. Organic speaks about the raw material and the field; artisan speaks about the processing and the scale. Confusing them is the most common mistake a shopper makes, and the one the less honest marketing leans on.

Where the three words meet

The interesting product is the one where both verifiable guarantees coexist: fruit grown without synthetic chemicals and certified, worked in small batches with short recipes. That is the case with our Organic Fig Preserve or our Organic Blood Orange Marmalade: Sicilian organic fruit, cane sugar, kettle cooking, no preservatives or colourings.

The same goes for the spreads: our 100% Organic Pistachio Cream with no added sugar lists a single ingredient, and that one ingredient is certified. No adjective needed: just turn the jar around.

How to read a label in thirty seconds

• Look for the green leaf and the control body code (in Italy formatted IT BIO 00X): without it, “organic” cannot legally appear on the pack.
• Count the ingredients — a short list tells you more than any front-of-pack claim.
• Check the fruit percentage in preserves: it tells you how much sugar sits on the other side.
• Be wary of words without numbers: “natural”, “genuine”, “like it used to be” have no parameter behind them.
• Check where it is processed: the plant's location and the origin of the raw material are two separate pieces of information.

None of these three words is a lie in itself. But only one of them carries an external check, and knowing that changes how a basket gets filled. If you want to go deeper into legal definitions in the world of preserves, we devoted an article to marmalade, preserve and compote, and one to the difference between natural and organic cosmetics, where the regulatory gap is wider still.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and the labelling of organic products
• Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (repealed from 1 January 2022)
• Codex Alimentarius, guidelines GL 32–1999
• ISMEA, Bio in Cifre 2025