After numerous food scares in China, the Chinese have become disillusioned with the communist regime’s ability to properly regulate the food industry. And the contaminated food does not just stay in China. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regularly refuses shipments from China for “filth,” unsafe additives, veterinary drug residues, and mislabeling. In 2007, melamine-tainted pet treats from China reportedly killed thousands of cats and dogs in the United States.

The answer for some victimized Chinese is now organics—a guarantee that their food products will be produced in an environmentally responsible way and not be grown with pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones, or other dangerous chemicals.

According to a survey by a Beijing research company, 80 percent of Chinese are upset by the food safety situation in China. A 2010 Foreign Agriculture Report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that consumers were willing to pay ten times more for organic beef and five to ten times more for organic vegetables. Organics, although only a small portion of China’s food market, are on the rise in China, with the consumption of organic food out of total consumption tripling between 2007 and 2012 according to Biofach, the world’s largest organic trade fair.

But is China’s “organic” actually safe? And who does the guaranteeing?

It’s not too clear, considering China’s opaque system. Of course, not all organic food from China is problematic, and China is not the only violator of food safety regulations, but with China being the third greatest exporter of agricultural products to the United States, the situation does deserve attention.

Below are some of the major issues with China’s “organic” produce.

1. Environmental pollution in China is severe

As a result of China’s rapid, largely unregulated industrial growth in the past few decades, China suffers dire environmental pollution. China’s soil and water sources contain large amounts of heavy metals, like lead and cadmium, released by industrial wastewater.

But the “organic” label fails to account for environmental pollution, as the system only certifies a process, in which no harmful pesticides, fertilizers, etc. can be added when growing organic produce. But what about the heavy metals, like cadmium, lead, and arsenic, already contaminating the water sources and soil in China? According to Mike Adams, a natural health advocate and editor for Natural News, the USDA sets no limits on heavy metal contamination.

Chinese government data in 2011 showed over half of China’s large lakes and reservoirs were too contaminated for human use. And a groundwater pollution report by China’s Ministry of Land and Resources published in April of 2015 found 16 percent of the sampled water to be of “extremely poor” quality.

Furthermore, nearly one-fifth of China’s farmland is polluted, according to China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Land Resources, with heavy metals that seeped into the soil through polluted irrigation water.