Federal "Organic" Label Questioned
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 5:37AMUSDA employees and an advisory board have approved a growing list of non-organic ingredients that may be included in products bearing the green-and-white "USDA Organic" logo, according to a July, 2009 story in the Washington Post. For example, USDA organic versions of:
- Baby formula can contain synthetic additives.
- Beer can be made from hops that are not organically grown.
- Mock duck can contain a synthetic ingredient to give it a duck-like, stringy texture.
"It will unravel everything we've done if the standards can no longer be trusted," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who sponsored the federal organics legislation. In response to complaints, the USDA inspector general's office is investigating the situation.
Senator Leahy is exactly right. Large-scale food producers lobby intensively to relax federal organic standards, but the USDA must hold firm. The designation "organic" should always signify that the product contains only ingredients that are not trans-genetically modified and that are grown without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Any deviation from this definition risks undermining the entire program - and could be especially damaging to those strictly organic farmers and food companies that justifiably charge slightly more for truly organic food.
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