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| NEW ORGANIC STANDARDS | |
 December 21, 2000  |
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All organic food produced in the United States will soon bear a seal that reads "USDA Organic." The Health Unit is a partnership with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
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 SUSAN
DENTZER: The label "organic" conjures up images of fresh and
wholesome food straight from the farm. That's helped turned the field
into the fastest-growing segment of the food industry, racking up about
$6 billion in annual sales. But for years, the term "organic"
has actually had no real regulatory definition. That's created confusion
for consumers and complaints about an uneven playing field for food producers,
and that's especially for those in states like Vermont, which boasts about
220 of the nation's organic farmers. |
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| Unequal level of responsibility? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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SUSAN DENTZER: So yesterday, after a decade-long struggle, the government announced new standards to remedy the confusion. In effect, it created a new national definition for the term "organic" and a new "USDA Organic" seal to go along with it.
SUSAN DENTZER: Glickman also said the standards would make things a lot clearer for consumers. One Northern Virginia organic food shopper, Pete Brady, agreed. PETE BRADY: The reality is that on the whole, organic food is better for you and the environment than food that is not organic. But I do believe that some food that is billed as organic, may not truly be organic food as I would like it to be and as I think most people understand it.
DAN GLICKMAN: The organic label is a marketing tool. It is something that I think consumers want. It is not a statement by the government about food safety. Nor is organic a value judgment by the government about nutrition or quality. The USDA is not in the business of choosing sides, of stating preferences for one kind of food, one set of ingredients or one means of production over any other.
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SEN.
PATRICK LEAHY: We had a lot of companies that suddenly decided to slap
the word "organic" on, and anybody would buy it. 
DAN
GLICKMAN: These new standards are a win for farmers and consumers. For
farmers, the standards create clear guidelines for how to take advantage
of the exploding demand for organic products. 
SUSAN
DENTZER: The new regulations lay out what methods, practices and substances
can be used in producing and handling organic crops and livestock--
and more important, which cannot. For example, food labeled "organic,"
can't have been created through many of the modern-day farming and food-
safety techniques that are in widespread use. These include the use
of many chemical pesticides to kill crop- destroying insects; genetic
engineering to produce new varieties of crops, like controversial starlink
corn-- which has been modified to contain its own plant pesticide; the
use of growth hormones-- such as the recombinant bovine growth hormone
given to dairy cattle to boost their mild production; and irradiation--
in which meats or other foods are treated with radiant energy to kill
bacteria and other pathogens. 
The
new standards also create new technical definitions for a separate category
of foods labeled, "made with organic ingredients." Under the
new regulations, these ingredients will have to be 70% organic to earn
that label. And the new standards also require farmers producing organic
foods to be certified as following the prescribed production guidelines.
About half of the nation's organic farmers are not currently certified,
so under the proposal, the government will help foot some of the costs
of having farmers undergo the necessary certification reviews. 
The
new standards cap a contentious process launched in 1990, when Congress
told the USDA to develop the regulations. Proposed rules were then unveiled
in 1997, and roughly 275,000 public comments flooded in. That triggered
a renewed debate over just what food production techniques should be
allowed under the new standards. A war over irradiated foods, for example,
pitted meat producers, and even some food- safety activists, against
others worried that the irradiation process could somehow prove harmful.
Trade groups representing food producers, distributors and retailers
yesterday said they still opposed parts of the regulations. They want
the USDA to monitor how consumers understand the new organic label,
to make sure they don't confuse it with an endorsement about food safety.
Glickman emphasized that the label should carry no such connotations.
SUSAN
DENTZER: Although the regulations could be reviewed or modified by the
incoming Bush administration next year, that's considered unlikely.
They are expected to begin taking effect in February, and to be fully
in place in mid- 2002. 
