House and Senate Democrats hope to close "organic loophole" in legislation

Food & Drink Weekly, March 24, 2003

The leaders of a House-Senate campaign to close a newly created loophole in U.S. organic food rules said on last week they might attach a repeal to a must-pass bill speeding through Congress in the next few weeks. Under the loophole, approved last month by Congress as part of an omnibus spending bill, poultry can be labeled as "organic" even if it was fed non-organic rations. Representative Sam Farr (D-Calif.) said that repeal might become a rider on a supplemental military spending bill expected in the next week or two. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said he would watch for "anything where we can attach it."

The Agriculture Department has not published rules to put the exemption into effect. USDA officials said they first had to complete a study comparing the cost and availability of organic feed with nonorganic feed. Because it was part of a spending bill, the loophole would expire with the fiscal year on September 30.

Farr said Congress should "repeal this outrageous black mark" before it irrevocably cheapened the value of the organic label. "We have over half of the Senate signed up on it," said Leahy. An aide later said 66 senators supported repeal.