USDA Updated Organic Regulations to Help Reduce Fraud

USDA issued a rule for organic food titled, National Organic Program (NOP); Strengthening Organic Enforcement..This rule is designed "to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products. The amendments protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations."

The reason, as stated in the Executive Summary, "The absence of direct enforcement over some entities in the organic supply chain, in combination with price premiums for organic products, has created the opportunity for organic fraud."  When we think of food fraud, olive oil and honey come to mind.  But the organic food supply chain has offered the greatest opportunities because of these shortcomings.

The rule can be found here - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/19/2023-00702/national-organic-program-nop-strengthening-organic-enforcement

From the Executive Summary:

"This rulemaking strengthens enforcement of the USDA organic regulations through several actions mandated by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018:

1. Reduce the types of uncertified entities in the organic supply chain that operate without USDA oversight—including importers, certain brokers, and traders of organic products. This will safeguard organic product integrity and improve traceability.

2. Require the use of NOP Import Certificates for all organic products entering the United States. This change expands the use of NOP Import Certificates to all organic products imported into the United States, improving the oversight and traceability of imported organic products.

3. Clarify the NOP's authority to oversee certification activities, including the authority to act against an agent or office of a certifying agent. Additionally, certifying agents must notify the NOP upon opening a new office, which will allow the NOP to provide more effective and consistent oversight of certifying agents and their activities.

Additionally, this rule includes several essential actions that work in alignment with the provisions above to further strengthen enforcement of the USDA organic regulations:

1. Require that nonretail containers used to ship or store organic products are labeled with organic identity and are traceable to audit trail documentation. This information will clearly identify organic products, reduce the mishandling of organic products, and support traceability.

2. Require certifying agents to conduct unannounced inspections of at least 5% of the operations they certify, complete mass-balance audits during annual on-site inspections, and verify traceability back to the previous certified operation in the supply chain during annual on-site inspections.

3. Require certifying agents to issue standardized certificates of organic operation generated from the USDA's Organic Integrity Database (OID); this will simplify the verification of valid certificates of organic operation. Certifying agents must also keep accurate and current certified operation data in OID, which will further support verification of operations' certified status.

4. Clarify how certified operations may submit changes to their organic system plan, with the goal of reducing paperwork burden for organic operations and certifying agents. This rule also builds consistency in certification practices by clarifying that certifying agents must conduct on-site inspections at least once per calendar year.

5. Establish specific qualification and training requirements for certifying agent personnel, including inspectors and certification reviewers. Requiring that personnel meet minimum education and experience qualifications and requiring continuing education will ensure high-quality and consistent certification activities across all certifying agents.

6. Clarify conditions for establishing, evaluating, and terminating equivalence determinations with foreign government organic programs, based on an evaluation of their organic foreign conformity systems. This will ensure the compliance of organic products imported from countries that have organic trade arrangements or agreements with the United States.

7. Clarify that the NOP may initiate enforcement action against any violator of the OFPA, including uncertified operations and responsibly connected parties; clarify what actions may be appealed and by whom; and clarify NOP's appeal procedures and options for mediation (alternative dispute resolution).

8. Specify certification requirements for producer group operations, to provide consistent, enforceable standards and ensure compliance with the USDA organic regulations. Producer groups must meet certain criteria to qualify for certification, and must use an internal control system to monitor compliance.

9. Clarify the method of calculating the percentage of organic ingredients in a multi-ingredient product to promote consistent interpretation and application of the regulation.

10. Require certified operations to develop and implement improved recordkeeping and organic fraud prevention processes and procedures; require certifying agents to conduct supply chain traceability audits and to develop and implement information-sharing processes."