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OTA To Help Revise National Organic Standards
February 28, 2005
1 Min Read
OTA To Help Revise National Organic Standards
GREENFIELD, Mass.The OrganicTrade Association (OTA) (www.ota.com) said it will help the U. S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) revise national organic standards outlined in the NationalOrganic Program (NOP) following a lawsuit brought by Arthur Harvey against theSecretary of Agriculture (Harvey v.Veneman).
Harvey, a producer and handler of organic blueberries andother crops, as well as an organic inspector employed by USDA-accreditedcertifiers and a consumer of organic foods, alleged technical inconsistenciesbetween the NOP standards implemented in 2002 and the Organic Foods ProtectionAct (OFPA) of 1990.
In its ruling, the court called for the following changes toNOP regulations:
Multi-ingredient products labeled as Organic, (atleast 95 percent organic ingredients), shall no longer include any of the 38synthetic substances allowed under NOP regulations but banned under OFPA;
Dairy herds transitioning to organic production may nolonger use 80 percent organic feed for the first nine months since OFPA requiresall organic dairy animals to receive organic feed for 12 months prior to thesale of milk or milk products; and
For multi-ingredient products labeled asOrganic (at least 95- percent organic ingredients), agricultural productsnot available commercially as organic must have individual reviews in order tobe used in the 5 percent not required to be organic.
Katherine DiMatteo, OTAs executive director, said, OTAis very proud that in the two years since national organic standards wereimplemented, U.S. organic acreage and production have grown substantially,organic product sales have increased, and there have been many environmentalbenefits as a result. The court decision may hamper that growth rate in theshort term, but OTA is optimistic that its members and others in the organiccommunity can pull together to maintain the momentum for organic agriculture.
USDA has not announced whether it intends to appeal the courtsdecision.
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