'Organic' to USDA might not be organic to you

The ambiguity of the Department of Agriculture’s “organic” label has many up in arms about the future of what The Washington Post calls the “fastest growing segment of the food industry.” Consumers may not always be getting what they think they are when purchasing organic, and relaxed federal standards for producers mean the label might be losing its luster, Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton report.

In 2008, the organics market pushed $23 billion and a survey by Harvard University found that half of U.S. adults buy organic. But products with the "USDA organic" label are not necessarily produced free of pesticides or chemicals, and standards have eroded. The original organics law, passed in 2002, and allowed 5 percent of a USDA-certified organic product to be made of some 77 listed nonorganic substances approved by the National Organic Standards Board. Today, 245 substances are on list and only one has been replaced by an organic alternative.

Food production has fast become a corporate industry with most major companies like Kraft, Kellogg and Coca-Cola owning the bulk of small, independent organic companies, and “that corporate firepower” has pressured the government to expand the definition of organic -- since big industry processed foods “often require ingredients, additives or processing agents that either do not exist in organic form or are not available in large enough quantities for mass production,” Kindy and Layton write. So, some question whether “USDA-certified organic” is being eroded in an effort to suit big-business demands.

The efficiency of USDA's National Organic Program has also come into question. In 65 instances since 2002, the standards board has made recommendations that have not been acted upon, Kindy and Layton report. And that makes for a very uneven playing field. The NOP’s failure to interpret a law requiring that dairy cows have “access to pasture” has led to some farms selling milk as organic from cows who spend little to no time grazing in open spaces, and the victims are farmers who offer actual organic milk, Alexis Baden-Meyer, national political director for the Organic Consumers Association, says. “The truly organic dairy farmers, who have their cows out in the pasture all year round, are at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to the big confinement dairies."

Barbara Robinson, who runs the organics program, has been called out by organic advocacy groups as part of the labeling haze. In the past, she has reversed board decisions that outlawed certain inorganic materials, and has a history of making organizational decisions individually. Three of her moves were rescinded by then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. An NOP board member, Joe Smillie, told Kindy and Layton that restrictive standards advocated by organic advocates would limit the growth of the market. "What are we selling?" he asked.
"Are we selling health food? No. Consumers, they expect organic food to be growing in a greenhouse on Pluto. Hello? We live in a polluted world. It isn't pure. We are doing the best we can." Smillie also serves as vice president of the certifying firm Quality Assurance International, which is involved in certifying 65 percent of organic products found on supermarket shelves.

So far, the Obama administration seems to have made few if any changes in the program. Sam Welsch, president of the Nebraska-based OneCert certification business, told Kindy and Layton that so far this year, his company has lost as many as a dozen farmers who wanted certifiers that allow the use of certain liquid fertilizers. "The rules should be clear enough that there is just one right answer," he said. (Read more)