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| Winter 1995 |
ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION ACT
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343 |
Labeling Processed Food: Deception Prohibited
Processed food labeled "organic" on the
front of the package (which must contain at least 95% organically grown ingredients100) may not contain any added synthetic materials. No exceptions
to this rule are evident in the OFPA.101 However, synthetic
ingredients are allowed for non-certified processed foods which "contain organic
ingredients" (made partially from organic ingredients, often less than 95%).
Restrictions on this
"made-with-organically-grown-ingredients" food are limited only by the way in
which the descriptive word "organic" is used on the principal display panel
(PDP) and/or the ingredient panel of the packaged product.
Products below 50% organic content102 may
not use the word "organic" on the principal display panel at all103. In all cases, the percentage "organic" may be
displayed on the ingredient information panel 104 found
elsewhere on the package.
- Livestock Standards: Rising Out of the Wallow
It has been clear from the outset in 1990 that
livestock destined for slaughter asorganically grown or cultured for livestock products
must receive 100% organically grown feedstock, including pasture, forage, grain or
anything that the animal or other non-plant life105 ingests
or absorbs as a nutrient outside of salt and water.106
To maintain clean livestock production, an operation must find (or
grow) 100% organically grown feed, clean water and salt from a pristine deposit. The
Livestock Committee of the NOSB had fastidiously done a proper job of recommending
compliance with the law in this regard, requiring 100% organic feed and statutory
incubation times for 100% organic feeding of breeding stock in the production of slaughter
stock progeny. The Livestock Committee properly prohibited synthetic antibiotics,
parasiticides, hormones and growth promotants, based in large part on the testimony from
mandated livestock hearings at four sites across the country, all administered by the same
administrative law judge. Public input at these livestock hearings demonstrated that these
materials were unnecessary to organic livestock production and that consumers demanded
their elimination. Most producers found that diverting therapeutically treated animals to
the conventional market was not only feasible, but was also a practice in which they were
already engaged.
100. This excludes salt
and water.
101. 7 U.S.C. § 6510(a)(1) (Supp. V 1993).
102. This calculation excludes salt and water also.
103. 7 U.S.C. § 6505(c)(1) (Supp. V 1993).
104. 7 U.S.C. § 6505(c)(2) (Supp. V 1993).
105. In addition, synthetic therapeutic antibiotics
and parasiticides, unless such substances survive the National List petition process, are
prohibited.
106. 7 U.S.C. § 6502(11) (Supp. V 1993). "The
term ‘livestock’ means any cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, equine animals
used for food or in the production of food, fish used for food, wild or domesticated game,
or other nonplant life." Id.
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