USDA Admits Organic Fraud is Increas... 
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (NOP) announced on August 5th that 15 of the 30 accredited organic certifiers they recently inspected failed the USDA audit and will have 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation with the NOP. It is clear that there are numerous violations of organic standards taking place in the U.S. and across the world.
A number of the violations noted in the several hundred page audit related to Chinese imports certified by the French-based organic certifier Ecocert and other certifiers. Strangely enough, Quality Assurance International (QAI), the largest organic certifier in the world, is not cited by the USDA, even though the OCA has recently reviewed documents that indicate that QAI is indeed under investigation by the NOP.
QAI has recently been in the news for sourcing ginger, contaminated with a dangerous and banned pesticide, Aldicarb, from its Chinese certification sub-contractors and then labeling it as "USDA Organic." (Watch news video coverage of this issue here). QAI is also under public fire, along with other certifiers, for certifying factory farm feedlot dairies supplying milk to Horizon and Aurora Organic Dairy, who in turn supply Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, and other organic private label organic milk..............................
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- Re: USDA Admits Organic Fraud is Inc... organic trade
16 y
2,463
This is a reply to # 1,231,516The 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.
- Re: USDA Admits Organic Fraud is Inc... organic trade
16 y
2,463
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