Organic Lobbyists Petition To Prevent USDA From Having Organic Food Oversight

Should one particular food process have its own special part of the USDA? Should any? FromSpending More For Organic Does Not Buy You Pesticide-Free by Dr. Steve Savage.

...the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which was created by Congress in 1990. The reason there is no quality assurance for organic food and no surprise spot testing to make sure organic farming is actually organic ? Also thanks to the NOSB. 

The Board, composed primarily of organic industry insiders, has had the kind of freedom from oversight every industry segment in America wishes they could wrangle.

But now that organic food is a $35 billion industry and has used a substantial amount of money to create the mythology that their process makes food more nutritious and has no pesticides, the USDA has wanted to reassert some level of control - and they got it. When NOSB was rechartered in May it was instead classified as a time-limited Advisory Board, subject to USDA.

That was a warning shot to organic food groups, who would prefer to be 'independent' from the USDA. So 20 organic food advocacy groups have filed a petition with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to protest the change...



@ Organic Lobbyists Petition To Prevent USDA From Having Organic Food Oversight: