Organic Label Protection Legislation Introduced

According to a report by the Organic Trade Association, the U.S. organic mar­ket in 2011 sur­passed $31 bil­lion for the first time, rep­re­sent­ing 9.5 per­cent growth. The organic food indus­try also gen­er­ated more than 500,000 American jobs in 2010. The Central Coast ranked sec­ond in California in 2009 organic farm sales, gen­er­at­ing more than $224 mil­lion in rev­enue. The 23rd District of California ranks 30th nation­ally in the num­ber of organic farms.

“This bipar­ti­san leg­is­la­tion is a win-win, for Central Coast farm­ers and busi­nesses who con­sis­tently meet the high­est stan­dards for organic prod­ucts and for con­sumers who deserve to know that all prod­ucts on gro­cery store shelves labeled ‘USDA organic’ adhere to con­sis­tently high stan­dards,” Capps said. “Failing to weed out imposter prod­ucts puts our organic indus­tries at a com­pet­i­tive dis­ad­van­tage and could poten­tially dam­age the brand of organic products.”

“Organic farm­ing is a grow­ing indus­try in upstate New York, which is cre­at­ing jobs and meet­ing an increas­ing con­sumer demand,” Hanna said. “This bill takes com­mon­sense steps to make sure USDA has the tools nec­es­sary to pro­tect the integrity of the organic seal and safe­guard this boom­ing indus­try from unscrupu­lous producers.”

“The Organic Trade Association sup­ports the pas­sage of the Organic Standards Protection Act which, if enacted, will give the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Organic Program addi­tional tools to safe­guard the integrity of the USDA Organic seal,” said Christine Bushway, CEO of the Organic Trade Association. “Consumers drive the growth in organic food and farm­ing and main­tain­ing their trust is crit­i­cal to the future of this fast-growing job-creating sec­tor of agri­cul­ture. On behalf of the 6,500 cer­ti­fied organic oper­a­tions nation­wide that OTA rep­re­sents, we applaud the lead­er­ship of Congresswoman Capps to posi­tion organic to meet con­sumer expec­ta­tions into the future.”

“CCOF sup­ports the Organic Standards Protection Act to fur­ther ensure con­sumer con­fi­dence in high-quality organic prod­ucts,” said Cathy Calfo, exec­u­tive director/CEO of the California Certified Organic Farmers. “Our mem­bers include 2400 organic farm­ers, ranch­ers, proces­sors and han­dlers whose com­pet­i­tive­ness relies on a strong reg­u­la­tory frame­work that is fairly enforced.”

According to a recent USDA Office of Inspector General report, the absence of inves­tiga­tive author­i­ties has ham­pered the National Organic Program’s abil­ity to pro­tect the integrity of the organic label.

Currently, the NOP does not have the author­ity to stop the rep­re­sen­ta­tion, label­ing or sale of organic prod­ucts when they have been treated with pro­hib­ited sub­stances or when con­ven­tional prod­ucts are being sold as organic. Embargo and stop sale author­ity would pro­vide the NOP with addi­tional tools to pro­tect the integrity of organic food products.

The Organic Standards Protection Act would pro­vide the USDA with the author­ity to stop sale of unlaw­fully rep­re­sented prod­ucts, and would enhance the effec­tive­ness of inves­ti­ga­tions while pro­vid­ing for appeal of the secretary’s actions. The bill would also pro­vide penal­ties for refusal to obey a con­clu­sive judgment.

The bill would:

• Grant USDA the author­ity to stop the sale of prod­ucts fraud­u­lently labeled and sold as cer­ti­fied organic while pro­tect­ing the rights of pro­duc­ers and han­dlers dur­ing the appeals process.
• Streamline record­keep­ing require­ments by requir­ing all organic pro­duc­ers and cer­ti­fiers to main­tain and pro­vide records to the USDA to improve its inves­tiga­tive process and enforce­ment efforts.
• Impose a civil penalty of $10,000 on those who vio­late the USDA’s revo­ca­tion of their certification.

The leg­is­la­tion is sup­ported by the California Certified Organic Farmers, the Organic Trade Association and the National Organic Coalition.

Source: Capps Office Release