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Update on organics: Accreditation revoked for “persistent noncompliance”
By Dr. Marion Nestle on 03/12/2011
On March 02, USDA announced that it was revoking its accreditation of two certifying agencies, Certified Organic, Inc. (COI) and Guaranteed Organic Certification Agency (GOCA).
USDA says COI failed to:
- Communicate with hired inspectors about proper procedures or ensure they were adequately trained
- Adhere to internal procedures according to their operational manual
- Keep confidentiality agreements on file for all employees with knowledge about certification applicants or operations
- Indicate on certificates the effective dates for organic certification
- Ensure adequate training for employees about the regulations
- Provide clients with cost estimates including inspection fees
- Clearly identify the company’s responsibility to pay for any required pre- or post harvest testing
- Verify organic system plans against the actual practices of their certified operations
GOCA’s problems had to do with “persistent noncompliance,” including such things as “failure to require clients to use defined boundaries and border zones as required by the organic standards.” This may all sound absurdly bureaucratic but it means the certifiers could be overlooking producers’ violations of organic standards.
You can track down the records of such things on the USDA’s website, and see the handful of other such enforcement actions at the National Organic Program’s site.
I’d say this is progress. Organic producers are supposed to follow the rules of the National Organic Program, and to be inspected to make sure they do. If the inspectors aren’t doing their job diligently, you won’t be able to tell whether the organic foods you buy are worth the premium prices.
This is a key point of a recent FoodNavigator story on the market for organics. The U.S. industry is expected to go from $21.1 billion in 2010 to $36.8 billion in 2015. How come? Because of “the government’s monetary and regulatory support and increasing acceptance of organic food in the country.”
People will pay more for organics if they think the producer is credible. Organics are about credibility. That is why the USDA needs to fiercely enforce organic certification. Doing so protects the industry. The more of this sort of thing, the better.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism and What to Eat.
You can read her Food Politics blog here:
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Comments
AggregatVier
Excellent! This goes hand in hand with the State of California finally cracking down on the fraudulent farmer's markets reselling regular supermarket produce as organic.
Helen
It is good to know our food is going to be trusted and inspected. I hope our other farmed food are regulated as well
When I eat grapes and strawberries I want to know they are safe for me and our children. I belive there are all natural ways of keeping pests off our food. Our meat to should be natural and healthy without hormones and pesticide residue from neighboring farms. Some of that espeshaly when they spray from the air drifts a long ways. Thank you food police
Lori
I find it interesting that the USDA will crack down on organic certifiers who are not in compliance with standards (which IS a good thing), but turns other cheek, so to speak, when it comes to Monsanto's corruption, and factory farms that promote the abuse of animals. Double standard I'd say.
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