NOSB Opts to Remove Carrageenan from List of Substances Allowed in Organic Products
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has reportedly voted 10-3, with one abstention, to remove carrageenan from the national list of substances allowed in organic processing and handling. Held November 16-18, 2016, in St. Louis, Missouri, the NOSB’s semi-annual meeting included a review of carrageenan on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances that identifies “the synthetic substances that may be used and the nonsynthetic (natural) substances that may not be used in organic crop and livestock production.” Other substances slated for sunset in 2018 include agar-agar, animal enzymes, calcium sulfate-mined, glucono delta-lactone, tartaric acid, cellulose potassium hydroxide, silicon dioxide, and beta-carotene extract for use as a coloring agent.
According to news sources, NOSB did not impugn the safety of carrageenan but took into account the availability of other substances to replace the seaweed-based thickening agent. If it accepts NOSB’s recommendation, the National Organic Program will issue a proposed rule in the Federal Register to delist carrageenan when it sunsets in 2018. Meanwhile, the Cornucopia Institute, which presented to NOSB proxy letters and a petition that called for the removal of carrageenan from organic food, and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) praised the decision.
“[C]onsumers have expressed discontent with the presence of carrageenan in organic products so ardently that many companies have already successfully abandoned the ingredient altogether,” said CFS Senior Manager for Organic and Animal Policy Cameron Harsh. “The board’s recognition that carrageenan is not essential to organic, as evidenced by the ability of many manufacturers to eliminate it from their products, is an enormous victory for organic integrity.” See Food Business News and Food Dive, November 18, 2016.
Issue 623
