Love,
Joe

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.

“In the intro on the left page, Smith makes the comment under “Brown Tide’s Role” that it is difficult to link the clam decline to the Brown Tide since the decline proceed the bloom by a decade. On the contrary, there is a direct link. The major reduction to the concentration of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) in the GSB began when the Southwest Sewer System came on line in 1985. This system caused an immediate reduction to the amount of algae available for the shellfish and began the decline of shellfish populations. The remaining populations temporarily were able to control the remaining algae (including any Brown Tide) until the collapse reached a critical limit. The limit was reached in 1995 with the advent of the Brown Tide.”

I thought that was a fascinating–and salient–point. Thanks, Roger