New Management at USDA Reforms, Strengthens National Organic Program WASHINGTON, DC: After an extensive audit and investigation of alleged improprieties at the USDA's National Organic Program, the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) made public their formal report, dated March 9, substantiating the allegations of prominent organic industry watchdog groups -- that under the Bush administration, the USDA did an inadequate job of enforcing federal organic law. Since 2002, when the USDA adopted the federal organic regulations, the agency has been plagued by underfunding and a number of scandals and complaints about its cozy relationship with agribusiness interests and lobbyists.

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"EcoGrain" Marketing Blitz -- Greenwashing New Bread Produced with Toxic Agrochemicals as Something Better Than Organic Cornucopia, Wisconsin: With the growing success of organics, and increasing consumer interest in buying foods that were grown on sustainable farms without toxic chemicals, Sara Lee Corporation has launched, with much fanfare, a marketing campaign for its EarthGrains bread, chock-full of environmental-friendly catchphrases. Sara Lee claims that "Eco-Grain™," an ingredient actually used in small proportions in its EarthGrains brand breads, is more sustainable than organic grain. What has been described as a "crass and exploitive marketing ploy" has angered many in the organic community. "Corporations like Sara Lee clearly want to profit from consumers' interest in ecological and healthy food production. But unlike organic companies, Sara Lee is doing practically nothing to ensure its ingredients are truly ecologically produced," said Charlotte Vallaeys, a Food and Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog. "It's a crass example of a corporation trying to capitalize on the valuable market cachet of organic, while intentionally misleading consumers--without making any meaningful commitment to protect the environment or produce safer and more nutritious food."

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Family Farmers Call Rule a Victory for Integrity of Organic Food and Agriculture Swift and Judicious Enforcement of Abuses Now Expected by Obama Administration WASHINGTON, DC -- After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new USDA regulations that establish distinct benchmarks requiring the grazing and pasturing of dairy cows and other livestock. Many hope that the new rule will put an end to the abuses that have flooded the organic market with suspect milk from a handful of mega-dairies generally confining thousands of animals in feed lots and barns. "We are delighted by the new rules," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. "The organic community has been calling for strong regulations and its enforcement for much of the past decade. Cheap organic milk flowing from the illegitimate factory farms has created a surplus that is crushing ethical family farm producers." The issue has been a lightning rod for controversy in the organic community.

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Farmers Appeal to OMB, President Obama for Justice WASHINGTON, DC: Family farmers from around the country, who produce organic milk, are petitioning president Obama, and the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for the swift adoption of new strict rulemaking that will rein in the abuses of a handful of factory farms they claim are violating both the spirit and letter of the federal organic law. The pending rewrite of the organic livestock standards, with an emphasis on assuring compliance with provisions that require that ruminants, like dairy cows, be grazed, is currently under review at OMB, where the administration is being heavily lobbied by industrial farming interests to water down the rules.

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Dean Foods, Target Stumble—Being Forced to Correct Deceptive Practices CORNUCOPIA, WIS: An investigation by the USDA's National Organic Program has determined that Target Corporation wrongly used the image of a certified organic product when promoting the sale of a conventional product to consumers. The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by The Cornucopia Institute. The violation at Target came after Dean Foods switched almost all their category-leading Silk soymilk from organic to conventional soybeans earlier this year. The specific problem involved Target using an image of a Silk organic product, in advertising flyers, when the retailer was really selling Silk's reformulated "natural" version (not organic, but made with conventional soybeans). Target made a commitment to the USDA to review their procedures to "prevent future errors of this nature." Dean Foods stealthily switched its core Silk product line to cheaper conventional soybeans, while, until recently, retaining the same packaging appearance. Now the giant dairy processor's WhiteWave division has been found itself to also be misrepresenting the product as organic on one of their own websites. A new legal complaint has been filed in an attempt to protect consumers from what Cornucopia calls, "fraudulent misrepresentation."

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