PRACTICE NOT PURITY: The Truth Behind the Organic Label

by Nica Poznanovich - Community Market's Board President 12/1/09

With the organic industry’s rise in popularity, more and more farms and producers are searching for weaknesses within the organic standards in order to cash in on the trend of the century. Understanding the truth behind the USDA’s organic label is essential in the preservation of our demand for a healthy food system. If we don’t protect the brand, the organic label program is finished and will disappear overnight. For the first time since the organic standards were established in 1986, the USDA is revising their biotech rules and regulations. This is the time when both consumers and retailers must come together and demand for the purity of food rather than just systems to produce it. It is important to realize that Community Market doesn’t want you to stop trusting or buying organic products; you are always getting a superior product by going organic, but we will never stop working to make the label as meaningful and strong as possible.

The term Organic describes a process for manufacturers and growers to follow rather than the purity of a crop or product. This system works to ensure environmental integrity of the farm or manufacturing plant, yet with the current standards, growers and manufactures are not required to test their final product. If you (as a grower) think that one of your crops has been contaminated, you must bear the cost of shipping out samples and the testing for GMO’s or pesticide residues. Most small farms are already paying exorbitant amounts of money for the label and cannot afford this final testing. There is also a lack of requirement for growers of deregulated GMO crops to prevent genetic drift from surrounding fields, holding the organic farmers liable if contamination occurs. However, things are changing here in California. In 2008 legislation was passed, establishing a protocol for patent holders (Monsanto) to enter farm land and take samples of crops. It also provides protection to non-GMO farmers against patent infringement lawsuits by the massive, powerful biopirates. Community Market was a participating member in the lobbying of this bill. Yet this lack of transparency directly undermines the organic community’s demand for no GMOs because the standards do not insist upon testing and allows GMO crops to go unregulated. As conscious consumers, you must demand for zero tolerance of GMO’s which must include mandatory testing of final products.

The original law mandates annual pesticide testing on all organic products, but the NOP decided to let that “mandate” be optional. The NOP then compiled a list of “allowable substances” (both synthetic and non-synthetic) when an organic option cannot be found (no regulations of what that search should look like exists either.) This list went from having 77 items to over 275 items in 2002, with the intention of shrinking it down over two years. Unfortunately, only 1 item has been removed since then. Some of the “allowable substances” include sulfur dioxide, petroleum based oils/distillates, bleached lecithin, ethylene, and terramycin-oxytetracycline (a calcium-antibiotic complex), and even non-organic seeds. There are similar “allowables” in the organic dairy/pasture realm, which is how Horizon Organic got away with running a factory farm with no outdoor access. These loopholes are a serious contributor to the degradation of the organic label and they must be closed up if we want to be sure about the integrity of our organic food system.

There are farms and manufacturers who choose to go above and beyond the USDA’s labeling standards because they realize the lack of proper regulation and insist upon a truly organic product rather than process. Community Market has dedicated its existence to educating our community about these issues and supporting those who choose to stand up for the integrity of our industry and therefore the integrity of our global food supply. You will find many of our products and produce comes from small, independent, and local farms or manufacturers whom all recognize the weak points of the NOP’s standards and believe it is their duty to stand up for a label that hold the future of our food in its hands.