OTA To Help Revise National Organic Standards

OTA To Help Revise National Organic Standards

GREENFIELD, Mass.—The Organic Trade Association (OTA) (www.ota.com) said it will help the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revise national organic standards outlined in the National Organic Program (NOP) following a lawsuit brought by Arthur Harvey against the Secretary of Agriculture (Harvey v.Veneman).

Harvey, a producer and handler of organic blueberries and other crops, as well as an organic inspector employed by USDA-accredited certifiers and a consumer of organic foods, alleged technical inconsistencies between the NOP standards implemented in 2002 and the Organic Foods Protection Act (OFPA) of 1990.

In its ruling, the court called for the following changes to NOP regulations:

• Multi-ingredient products labeled as “Organic,” (at least 95 percent organic ingredients), shall no longer include any of the 38 synthetic substances allowed under NOP regulations but banned under OFPA;
• Dairy herds transitioning to organic production may no longer use 80 percent organic feed for the first nine months since OFPA requires all organic dairy animals to receive organic feed for 12 months prior to the sale of milk or milk products; and
• For multi-ingredient products labeled as “Organic” (at least 95- percent organic ingredients), agricultural products not available commercially as organic must have individual reviews in order to be used in the 5 percent not required to be organic.

Katherine DiMatteo, OTA’s executive director, said, “OTA is very proud that in the two years since national organic standards were implemented, U.S. organic acreage and production have grown substantially, organic product sales have increased, and there have been many environmental benefits as a result. The court decision may hamper that growth rate in the short term, but OTA is optimistic that its members and others in the organic community can pull together to maintain the momentum for organic agriculture.”

USDA has not announced whether it intends to appeal the court’s decision.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines