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RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Earlier this month, as the recalls related to January’s tainted peanut butter scandal continued, The New York Times published a story called, “It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?” The article described the confusion some consumers expressed about how U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic-labeled products might be affected by the salmonella outbreak. And, according to the organic community, the story fails to answer—or even fully explore—the question it raises.

THE DETAILS: Some of the processed foods recalled during the outbreak were certified organic. But this, organic advocates say, was the result of bad practices by one company, not a systemic failure of the organic-certification process. “The real problem is that this peanut manufacturer did not follow established FDA food-safety protocols, and knowingly shipped unsafe product that tested positive for salmonella,” says Joe Smillie, senior vice president of Quality Assurance International, the largest third-party organic certifier in the world. Furthermore, he adds, organic food has never claimed to have special protection against that kind of irresponsibility. “The ‘USDA certified-organic’ standard was not developed to be a food safety label, but a label that confirms and verifies that the product is produced following organic protocols,” Smillie adds, noting that purity of food from germs has traditionally been the responsibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (Which seems to be getting criticized for all kinds of failures these days.)

WHAT IT MEANS: The filthy conditions inside the two peanut butter plants are unacceptable—nobody should get sick or die from the food they eat. But one ugly incident of food malfeasance that the FDA was late in catching doesn’t change the evidence that, on balance, organic food is the safest thing you can put on your plate. That’s a major point that the Times failed to consider. “The article paints organic in a slightly unfair light,” says Jeff Moyer, chair of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board and farm manager at the Rodale Institute. “It doesn’t discuss at all the production of organic food, and the fact that the chemicals involved in conventional production have been taken out of the system for organic. We know that the food is safer for the farm workers in the field, and for the environment, not to mention the people buying the food, because all that material is not in the food system.”

The organic-certification process is not a perfect system, as the peanut recalls show. But here are some points to raise if you’re an organic enthusiast caught in a “which is better” argument: