For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page and our Safeguarding Organic Standards page.

USDA Seeks Public Comment Comments due December 26, 2012

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public comment on a rule that would continue its policy of allowing the indiscriminate and illegal addition of synthetic nutrients to organic foods.

Nutrients occur naturally in foods, and many are essential for good health.  But organic consumers expect that any added nutrients in processed foods be derived from natural or organic sources
rather than synthetic versions that are mass-produced in laboratories and factories by chemical corporations, often using hazardous petrochemical solvents.

If you agree that organic foods should be free from unnecessary synthetic ingredients, as the federal organic regulations require, please make your voice heard.

Make your voice heard.  Full instructions for
 commenting to the USDA:
 http://www.cornucopia.org/fight-to-keep-gimmicky-synthetic-nutrients-from-polluting-organic-food/

Additional Background

In the past six months, organic stakeholders won a string of victories at the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meetings, which upheld organic integrity and rejected corporate petitions for eight synthetic nutrients.

Rather than respect the organic law and accept the NOSB recommendation and the will of the organic community, corporate food manufacturers like Nestle have refused to remove the synthetic nutrients from organic foods, and have turned instead to the USDA for help.

Sadly, the USDA seems all too eager to help them out.  Despite a 2011 public apology by USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan for the previous administration’s creation of a loophole in the organic standards, which led to the indiscriminate and illegal addition of synthetic nutrients to organic foods, the USDA is now unwilling to back this apology with concrete action, and is once again catering to corporate interests.