Certifiably Organic - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, June, 2000 by Abigail Chipley

Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) first attempt to regulate the organic foods industry was a dismal failure. Organic farmers, activists and consumers were united in their outrage at a plan that would have allowed food that had been genetically altered, irradiated or fertilized with sewage sludge to carry the label "organic."

To the credit of the USDA, it's finally responded to consumer demand. After reviewing more than 275,000 comments from the public on the original proposed standards, an overwhelming majority of which were negative, the USDA has released a revised proposal, which, when enacted, will set strict national standards for organic food.

Food products bearing the forthcoming "USDA certified organic" label will be guaranteed not to have been genetically altered, irradiated or fertilized with sewage sludge. Raw foods will have been grown without synthetic pesticides (meat will come from livestock reared on organic feed without antibiotics). Processed foods containing 95 percent organically produced ingredients will also carry the organic label and products made with at least 50 percent organic ingredients may state "made with organic ingredients."

The new rules are intended to replace a confusing mishmash of 49 sets of state and private certification standards with one national system that guarantees uniform standards and, for the first time, has the authority to enforce them by imposing fines on farmers and manufacturers who mislabel their products as organic.

In fact, the new rules are more stringent than many of the old state laws. But there's a sad irony here. Because of the increased burden on farmers--both financial and bureaucratic--to certify their crops, the standards may actually wind up benefiting big companies more than the small farmers who have been the traditional backbone of the organics movement. Katherine diMateo, head of the Organic Trade Association, agrees. "The new rule certainly won't spur farmers to rush out and get their products certified as organic," she says.

Overall though, the new rules represent a tremendous improvement over the former system. "[The label] is about giving consumers and farmers a definition of organic that takes the guesswork out of the process," said Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman in a press conference statement.

Still, there are many kinks to be worked out, says diMateo, including the issue of contamination of organic crops by drift from neighboring fields planted with genetically modified crops. Currently, the standards do not address whether or not farmers would lose their organic certification if their crops were found to be tainted with genetically modified materials.

One thing is clear: The organics industry is booming, boasting more than $6 billion in sales last year alone and a projected growth rate of 20 percent in 2000. In addition to satisfying the growing number of organic food consumers in the United States, the new rules will help farmers market their products overseas to people who are concerned about conventional farming practices--including the use of antibiotics and genetically engineered seeds.

Perhaps most encouraging is the USDA's more enlightened attitude toward the organics movement. For the first time, the agency is putting its money where its mouth is: It has allocated $5 million of its budget as research money for organic agriculture. Once more, the USDA seems to have realized its mission is to serve American consumers, not big business. "The people spoke," said Glickman to the press, "and very loudly, I might add."