Organic Crackdown

Organic Crackdown

Nearly a year ago several US organic standard holders were quoted as saying that a crackdown by the USDA on the misuse of the term “organic” on products was not expected to come to pass any time soon. They were wrong. The National Organic Standards Board, a Congress appointed panel to the USDA, working to obtain general agreement in the organic community for informed regulatory decisions, has obviously been quite successful in recommending that the USDA get tough on the misuse of the word organic or misrepresentation of organic status by producers or companies.  The manner in which the USDA  National Organic Program has decided to get tough is hitting most companies and operations where it hurts, in the pocketbook. For nearly the first time ever hefty financial penalties are being issued in the organic community by the USDA, which will hopefully help remove the chaff, so to speak, from the industry. With this and other new operating procedures now in place for the NOP a much more effective auditing and enforcement entity within the USDA should be forthwith, and “organic integrity” should be the resulting outcome.  

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