Industry Watchdog / Washington Post Investigation Brings Down Old Leadership Washington, DC: In a strong departure from Bush-era policy, the USDA's National Organic Program released a memo today banning synthetic "accessory nutrients" — ending a scandal that brought down its former organic leadership. At issue were some of the nation's leading manufacturers of infant formula that had been illegally adding synthetic forms of omega-3 and omega-6 oils to their organic products after a sweetheart deal between a powerful industry lobbyist and Dr. Barbara Robinson, the former head of the USDA's organic program—exposed by a 2009 investigative report in the Washington Post. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), by The Cornucopia Institute and shared with the Washington Post, indicated that Robinson, after meeting with Jay Friedman, a lawyer and lobbyist with the powerful Washington law firm of Covington Burling, rescinded a ruling made by USDA career civil servants who found the inclusion of synthetic oils in organic infant formula to be illegal.

Posted in Cornucopia News

Prominent Brands Using “Organic" in Their Name When Products Don't Qualify Cornucopia, WI—While the organic label is the gold standard of eco-labels on food packages, one major loophole in the federal organic standards remains—which an organic industry watchdog is asking the USDA to close. Companies are tightly regulated in terms of their use of the word "organic" on food packaging, but some businesses are deceiving customers by using the words "Organic" or "Organics" in their company name on food that does not legally qualify as organic. "Companies are getting away with using the word ‘organic’ in their company name, listed prominently on food packages, even if the product they’re selling isn’t certified organic," explains Charlotte Vallaeys, Farm and Food Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute. "These companies are taking advantage of the good name and reputation of organics, without going the extra mile to actually source all organic ingredients in their products." Today, The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group, sent a formal legal complaint to the USDA’s National Organic Program, and

Posted in Cornucopia News

Synthetic Oils in Infant Formula Could Be Making Babies Sick Cornucopia, WI – For years, the USDA'S National Organic Program has failed to enforce federal organic standards that prohibit the use of certain unapproved synthetic substances in organic infant formula and other organic foods. The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based food and farm policy research group, is taking action to rein in the practice with the re-filing of a formal legal complaint with the USDA calling for the removal of the additives from organic infant formula. The additives, DHA and ARA, are nutritional oils grown from fermented algae and soil fungus, and are being added to most conventional as well as organic formula brands. They have been linked to serious illness in some infants. "Consumers rightfully expect organic foods to be purer and safer than conventional foods -- in part because federal regulations require that they be free from potentially harmful synthetic additives," says Charlotte Vallaeys, Farm and Food Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute, a non-profit farm and food research group. "But in the case of the synthetic, chemically extracted additives DHA and ARA, the system of federal regulations ensuring organic integrity was undermined by corporate lobbying and backroom deals during the Bush Administration."

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Farmers/Ranchers Square-off in Debate About 100% Pasture Versus Feedlots Cornucopia, WI — The new USDA organic pasture rule strengthening the requirement for grazing and pasturing livestock may not apply to beef cattle and other ruminants in meat production. In fact, the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) is seeking comments from farmers and consumers on a proposal to allow some level of confinement in feedlots for, as an example, organic beef cattle during the last four months of their lives during the "finishing" period prior to slaughter (when industry standards would feed them mostly grain/corn).

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Home Pesticide Manufacturer Misrepresenting Products as Certified "Organic" The Cornucopia Institute has filed legal complaints with the USDA alleging that Wal-Mart, and a North Carolina-based company, HOMS LLC, are violating the USDA organic standards by using conventional agricultural oils, and other ingredients, in pest control products that bear the word organic and the green “USDA organic” seal. The pest control products in question are marketed under the Bio Block label (see front of bottle, back of bottle, and company webpage product screenshot). A debate has been raging for years whether non-food products, such as pet food and personal care products, are included in the strict regulations that determine the use of the word "organic" on packaging. Most of those products at least had organic ingredients involved in their manufacture, whereas Bio Block pest control products contain not a single organically produced ingredient.

Posted in Cornucopia News