|
|
|
Expect Positive Changes to the "Organic" Labelby Robynn Shrader The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been ordered to amend the
National
Organic Program (NOP) to comply with the Organic Foods Production Act
of 1990 (OFPA).
In October 2002, just days after the rules governing organic under NOP
were
implemented, 1.Synthetic
substances are not permitted in processing of items labeled as
“organic,” and
only allowed in the “made with organic” labeling category. 2.Provisions
allowing up to 20% non-organic feed in the first nine months of a dairy
herd’s
one-year conversion to organic production are not permitted. 3.All
exemptions for the use of non-organic products “not commercially
available in
organic form” must be reviewed by the National Organic Standards Board,
and
certifiers must review the operator’s attempt to source organic. The final
court ruling, issued in late June, is important because it confirms
that USDA
does not have the authority to contravene the enabling legislation in
their
implementation of a federal program, despite any amount of process
involved in
that implementation. The organic
industry has argued that OFPA should be changed to be consistent with
the NOP
developed by USDA, on the basis of there having been considerable
meetings within
the organic community and a public rule-making process. Essentially, we
should
content ourselves with the rules developed by USDA and return to the
NOP that
existed prior to the There is
plenty of anecdotal evidence and some preliminary research to indicate
that
consumers do not expect there to be a dilution of the principles of
OFPA in the
foods they purchase labeled “organic.” The success of the organic
market is largely
driven by consumer expectations that were shaped by decades of practice
by
farmers, processors and manufacturers prior to a USDA program; and
diligence by
a wide array of organizations including food coops that committed
themselves to
education about what the term “organic” means and the impacts of
organic
agriculture. There is real opportunity for more transparency and
consumer
understanding in the organic labeling scheme, and this opportunity for
more clarity
in labeling is a key positive outcome of the To this
end, six agriculture, retail and food safety groups (including NCGA)
have
petitioned USDA, asking for a number of regulatory changes designed to
ensure
the long-term integrity of the “organic” label, to create an equitable
and consistent
standard that aids dairy farmer transition to organic, and to bring the
current
NOP regulations into compliance with the federal court’s ruling.
Petitioners
are asking USDA to make the proposed regulatory changes complete by
June 2006.
(You can view the entire petition at www.agmatters.
net/attachments/PetitionFinalJune22Filed.pdf.) The
proposals within this petition can resolve inconsistencies between the
law and
the organic program regulations without opening up the law to wholesale
changes. Regulatory changes to the NOP should be pursued and exhausted
before
any attempt is made to amend the law, and the member coops of NCGA are
prepared
to defend against any attempt to weaken OFPA. The organic industry must
be
willing to adopt practices that maintain the integrity, high standards
and
market viability of the organic label long term. Robynn
Shrader is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the
National
Cooperative Grocers Association. NCGA represents 96 food coops with
more than
120 retail locations nationwide, and more than $670 million in annual
sales.
NCGA was formed to provide a support infrastructure to the network of
consumer-owned cooperatives in the |
CoopScoop Home
|
