Update on organics
On March 02, USDA announced that it was revoking its accreditation of two certifying agencies, Certified Organic, Inc. (COI) and Guaranteed Organic Certification Agency (GOCA).
USDA says COI failed to:
Communicate with hired inspectors about proper procedures or ensure they were adequately trained
Adhere to internal procedures according to their operational manual
Keep confidentiality agreements on file for all employees with knowledge about certification applicants or operations
Indicate on certificates the effective dates for organic certification,
Ensure adequate training for employees about the regulations
Provide clients with cost estimates including inspection fees
Clearly identify the company’s responsibility to pay for any required pre- or postharvest testing
Verify organic system plans against the actual practices of their certified operations
GOCA’s problems had to do with “persistent noncompliance,” including such things as:
“failure to require clients to use defined boundaries and border zones as required by the organic standards.”
This mayall sound absurdly bureaucratic but it means the certifiers could be overlooking producers’ violations of organic standards.
You can track down the records of such things on the USDA’s website, and see the handful of other such enforcement actions at the National Organic Program’s site.
More here...........................
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