Report Says Organic Innovations Lagging

Since its launch in 2002, USDAs National Organic Program (NOP) has continued to evolve in response to an ongoing debate within the organic community regarding how organic foods should be defined and regulated.

One of the key issues at the center of the debate is the National List" of substances that are prohibited or permitted to be used in the production, processing, and handling of organic foods. The list identifies all approved exceptions to the assumption that all methods, contact materials, and ingredients used in the production of organic foods are in fact organic." Whether substances should be added to or removed from the National List has been a subject of debate and controversy since the inception of the NOP.

An article in the November 2010 issue of Food Technology magazine examines the issue and concludes all parties involved in the production, processing, certification, and consumption of organic foods would be better served by a simpler, more streamlined process to determine which substances may be used in organic foods. The article also supports the idea there is insufficient demand from the organic market to prompt suppliers to manufacture an ingredient; however, removing some products from the list could encourage supply.

For example, rice starch was only present in two percent of products examined, but 80 percent of the products that contained any rice starch used an organic form of the ingredient. This is likely due to the fact that rice starch expired from the National List in June 2009. Therefore, manufacturers had an incentive to begin sourcing organic versions of the ingredient," the authors wrote.

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