USDA to Allow More Conventional in Organic

"This proposed rule proposes to amend the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) regulations to enact recommendations submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) during public meetings held May 6-8, 2002, in Austin, Texas, and March 27-29, 2007, in Washington, DC. Consistent with the NOSB recommendations, this proposed rule proposes to add 38 substances, along with any restrictive annotations, to the National List regulations."

Read the proposal.

So, what does this mean?

"The USDA has announced a proposal to allow 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the "USDA Organic Seal". Most of the ingredients are food colorings derived completely from plants that are not yet available in an organic form. But a few of the proposed ingredients have raised the concerns of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and other leading organics experts.

Specifically, the OCA disagrees with allowing conventionally grown hops to be used in beers labeled as "organic". Also, the USDA would like to allow the use of conventionally raised factory-farmed animal intestines as casing for sausages labeled as "organic". The public comment period on these additions is only 7 days, so take action now."

Read the article and write the USDA.

Whenever I used to see the certified organic seal, I would automatically trust the product, but now I'm not so sure. The USDA has made making plenty of shady moves lately. Looks like Eden Foods was right.