The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has announced that the United States and Canada have agreed to finalize negotiations on their organic equivalency standards before the new rule is implemented on June 30, 2009, to ensure trade continues uninterrupted. The new Organic Products Regulations will require all Canadian organic products to be endorsed by a certification body accredited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The rules were designed to create a nationwide standard for Canadian products but raised fears that products previously accepted as organic from other countries, including the United States, could be shut out if they did not comply. The U.S. final rule on national organic standards was fully implemented in October 2002 and is slightly different than the new Canadian regulation. An official of the OTA was quoted as saying, “Canadian consumers will definitely benefit from this, and will continue to enjoy quality year-round organic products from…
Tag Archives organic
“After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply,” claims this article exploring the nation’s sustainable-food movement. The author writes that at the heart of the movement “is a belief that America has become efficient at producing cheap, abundant food that profits corporations and agribusiness, but is unhealthy and bad for the environment.” Martin cites conventional agriculture producers who argue that organic farming cannot provide enough food because the yields tend to be lower than those of crops grown with chemical fertilizer. “We think there’s a place for organic, but don’t think we can feed ourselves and the world with organic,” Rick Tolman, chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association, was quoted as saying. “It’s not as productive, more labor-intensive and tends…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has announced a public meeting slated for May 4-6, 2009, at The Washington Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. NOSB committees will present recommendations to the full board for a vote concerning (i) the use or prohibition of 13 petitioned substances for the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances; (ii) revisions to the NOSB policy and procedures manual and the Guide for New NOSB Members; (iii) guidance for accredited certifying agents regarding the use of the 100 percent label claim on processed products and the strengthening of the on-farm implementation of the principals of biodiversity and conservatism; (iv) guidance to the National Organic Program (NOP) regarding compliance with the Peer Review requirements of the Organic Foods Production Act and the organic regulations; (v) guidance on standards for the management of bivalves; and (vi) a change to the definition of nonagricultural…
“The plants in Texas and Georgia that were sending out contaminated peanut butter and ground peanut products had something else besides rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings. They also had federal organic certification,” opines this article examining a marketplace perception that organic food is both healthier and safer than conventional products. The authors suggest that a convoluted organic certification program has subverted an organic ethos “built on purity and trust . . . between the farmer and the customer.” With fees sometimes exceeding thousands of dollars, manufacturers are apparently dependent on a “web of agents” sponsored by those farmers and operations seeking certification. “A private certifier took nearly seven months to recommend that the USDA revoke the organic certification of the peanut company’s Georgia plant, and then did so only after the company was in the thick of a massive recall,” states the article, which notes that agents are required…
Aurora Dairy Corp., which is defending multidistrict litigation involving putative class claims that it sold its products as “organic” without following national organic program standards, has sued one of its insurance carriers in federal court seeking a declaration that the insurer has wrongly failed to provide defense coverage. Aurora Dairy Corp. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Ins. Co., No. 09-00346 (D. Colo., filed February 19, 2009). According to the complaint, “Aurora has been named in thirteen consumer class actions filed in the courts of six different states.” The claimants in those lawsuits allege a variety of causes of action including “that the milk provided by Aurora that they purchased allegedly exposed them, their families and their friends to pesticides, hormones, antibodies, and other chemicals and/or has generally caused them injury or damage.” Additional details about the underlying lawsuits appear in issues 251, 279 and 286 of this Update. Aurora claims that it has…
This blog post examines a fish diet trend currently sweeping Hollywood, raising questions about the safety and sustainability of certain seafood selections. According to Food & Water Watch, actor Jeremy Piven became “the rumored victim of mercury poisoning” after eating sushi twice daily, while Madonna has pledged to eat more salmon and Angelina Jolie earlier lauded her post-pregnancy diet of organic seafood. “You might remember that, at the time, there were no standards in the U.S. for organic seafood,” opines the blog, which describes proposed rules put forth by the National Organic Standards Board as “a fraud” and current EU standards as “poorly designed and incompatible with the concept of organic food.” Food & Water Watch also urges consumers to choose wild salmon over farmed, claiming that “Studies have shown that wild salmon possess lower PCB levels than farmed salmon, as the latter receive feed with greater levels of contamination.”…
Federal agents reportedly raided a major organic fertilizer producer in Bakersfield, California, over concerns that it was using a synthetic nitrogen, which is banned from organic farms. Port Organic Products Ltd. is believed to produce up to half the liquid fertilizer used on the state’s organic farms. The raid follows by about a month press reports that state regulators quietly pulled the product of another fertilizer producer, with about a third of California’s market share, from the organic market in November 2007 for similar problems. Synthetic nitrogen is apparently cheaper than approved nitrogen sources such as ground-up fish and chicken feathers, and it is hard to detect. No charges have been filed against Port Organic, and federal officials were reportedly not commenting on their investigation, but a county environmental health services department evidently imposed fines on the company for improperly storing thousands of gallons of aqua ammonia, a common synthetic nitrogen…
Plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation against Aurora Dairy Corp. over claims that its “organic” milk products do not meet federal certification requirements have reportedly filed an unopposed notice of voluntary dismissal requesting that the court dismiss Whole Foods Market Group, Inc. from the case without prejudice. In re: Aurora Dairy Corp. Organic Milk Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 08-1907 (E.D. Mo., motion filed December 13, 2008). While Whole Foods apparently did not sell Aurora’s organic milk, the company was named as successor-in-interest to Wild Oats, Inc., the chain acquired by Whole Foods in August 2007 and alleged to have sold the products. Whole Foods has reportedly argued that Wild Oats retained its assets and liabilities after the merger and has agreed to provide plaintiffs with discovery on that issue. According to plaintiffs’ counsel, “If, after that discovery, we agree with your analysis, we will move the court to strike Whole…
Food activist Marion Nestle reports in her “What to Eat” blog that the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board has approved a rule to allow “farmed carnivorous fish to eat meal and oil derived from sustainably wild-caught fish.” The board’s decision means that wild fish cannot be classified as organic, but farm-raised fish can be considered organic even if they eat fish meal made with wild fish. Citing Food Chemical News, Nestle notes that the board also approved the use of open net pens in organic aquaculture with restrictions to prevent farmed fish from escaping and the recycling of nutrients. “Net pens would only be allowed in specified areas to avoid lice contamination.” Consumers Union reportedly criticized the proposal at a press conference held before the board meeting at which the vote was taken, focusing on the use of “net cages,” which purportedly allow waste and disease from fish farms to…
The public interest group Food & Water Watch has urged consumers to contact the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to oppose the use of the “USDA Organic” label for farmed fish. Food & Water Watch has accused industrial fish farmers of attempting to “greenwash” aquaculture practices that, according to the group, disrupt ocean ecosystems “by wiping out the fish on the bottom of the food chain” and increase “the amount of dangerous pollutants like mercury and PCBs” that wind up in farmed fish products. The organization warns consumers that feeding wild fish to farm-bred fish in deep-water open pens is not “consistent with [the] organic principles that you have come to trust and that require minimal impact on the environment, control of input and outputs, and animals to be raised on organically-raised feed.” Food & Water Watch recently initiated several action calls to counteract the final directives of the Bush…
