originalChicago Tribune Covers Organic Standards ControversyPosted on Fri, Dec. 09, 2005
The organic label just won't stick if feds keep this upBY
JULIE DEARDORFFChicago Tribunehttp://www.fortwayne.com Whenever I see the green and white "USDA Organic" label on food, I make two
assumptions: The product will cost a fortune, and it won't contain
artificial or synthetic ingredients.
But organics often do contain a small percentage of additives. And thanks to
a last-minute amendment slipped into an agricultural spending bill without
public discussion or debate, the standards for what constitutes "organic"
could be diluted even more than they already are.
After "organic" was finally defined and national standards were hammered out
in 2002, a product could use the two-tone "USDA Organic" label if at least
95 percent of its ingredients are organic. The remaining 5 percent could be
artificial or synthetic if they were on an approved list and the necessary
organic ingredients were unavailable or in short supply.
This infuriated Arthur Harvey, an organic-blueberry farmer from Maine, who
sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture, charging that the standards were
too lax. Earlier this year, he won, meaning that food labeled "USDA Organic"
would not be able to contain any artificial ingredients. The ruling also
meant that several dozen approved synthetic substances used since 2002 would
be banned, additives such as pectin, a thickening agent used in jam and
yogurt, and ethylene, used to accelerate the ripening of harvested fruit.
But the controversial rider, part of the 2006 agricultural appropriations
bill, changes the picture in two important ways: First, it weakens organic
standards because it reverses the Harvey court decision that banned the use
of synthetics. Worse, it gives the agriculture secretary the power to
approve new synthetic substances if no organic substitute is available,
without getting a review from the National Organic Standards Board advisory
group.
This means hundreds of new chemically derived processing ingredients could
appear in food labeled "USDA Organic" without any public discussion. The
Organic Consumers Association says industry already has requested that 517
more synthetics be approved, including some called "food-contact substances"
such as boiler additives and disinfectants.
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