China Opposed to Lax Organic Standards

"In response to a government plan to ease the requirement that locally produced organic crops be pesticide-free, the Consumers' Foundation (CF) said Tuesday that it strongly opposes the move out of concern over food safety.

CF Chairman Cheng Jen-hung made the comments after Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Huang Yu-tsai visited him to tout the change. The agency is a unit under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA).

According to Huang, his agency is planning to follow the U.S. model by permitting local crops that contain no more than 5 percent in chemical residue of the standard safety levels set by the public health authorities to carry "organic" stickers.This would mark an easing of the existing zero-residue tolerance."

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