USDA REPORT INDICATES THAT ORGANIC LABELING FRAUD IS INCREASING
“USDA REPORT INDICATES THAT ORGANIC LABELING FRAUD IS INCREASING”
This is the headline I received in an email today from the Organic Consumers Association.
All that went through my mind when I read it was…”No @#$% Sherlock!”
The article’s first paragraph says “15 of the 30 accredited organic certifiers they recently inspected failed the USDA audit”
I’ve posted about it before and many better than me, including one of our writers, have written about greenwashing. Now it’s organic labeling fraud.
I’m not surprised - Nor should anyone else be.
In the spirit of making a buck what’s a little fraud among friends.
My business partner, Matt, and I have talked numerous times about this label and how we look forward to the day we don’t need it anymore.
Why don’t we need it? Well essentially it’s a label to say this food is free of crap, right?
I know I don’t what to eat crap and I’m sure no one else does, so if we just eliminate the crap in our food we wouldn’t need the label anymore.
It’s funny a few months back we were in a conversation with a Wine Distributor who told us when he was in Argentina on business he asked one of the Vintners about if they had “certified organic” wines.
He said the gentleman not only got insulted, but went of for hours about the love and care that goes into making his wine. Exclaiming why would he need this label, when he knows what he does and does not use in his vineyard.
I guess he hasn’t met the others who are not in his vain. Wouldn’t it be great if we all got a multi hour lecture whenever we asked someone about the quality of their product.
It would make the FDA’s job a lot easier. It would simplify the labeling of products. Just think labels would actually have information we can all easily read.
If you’d like to learn more about the fraudulent labeling click here
Tom Pellicane - Publisher, canvas Magazine
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OTA Public Statement on the Accreditation Process
The Organic Trade Association applauds the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) for making available information from its auditing process for accredited certification agencies. NOP’s Aug. 5 posting of the renewal status of accredited certification agencies is an important first step in providing transparency to consumers on the process to review and audit the organic certifiers in the quest to maintain the integrity of organic operations.
Certifier approval, inspection and enforcement have always been founding principles of national organic standards, and they are critical to maintaining trust between the consumer and the industry.
Because the National Organic Standards were fully implemented in October 2002 and this is a new industry, this is the first time such a report has been issued.
As designated in the NOP report, certification is still valid not only for operations certified by agencies that have successfully completed the process but also for operations certified by agencies listed as “renewal on-going” or “renewal pending subsequent audit.” USDA plans to conduct follow-up audits to complete the accreditation process on these agencies within the next 12 months.
To see the posting listing the current status of the 55 domestic and 40 foreign accredited certifying agents, go to: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5071121&acct=AQSS.
The Organic Trade Association continues to support the work of NOP and to advocate for proper funding for NOP so that it has the resources it needs to enforce the organic regulations that cover all organic food and beverage products sold in the United States. OTA believes the completion of the audit process is a hallmark of the organic system’s integrity and commitment to continuous improvement.
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