10 years ago, organic certifiers weren’t able to agree on production standards, but the Organic Certifiers Council recently voted unanimously to move toward one standard and one accrediting agency, part of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).
Although it is still struggling for international recognition, IFOAM is the only organization equipped to do world-wide accreditation. This avoids the logistical nightmare of national accreditors trying to check all the imports and exports of organic products to and from every nation.
The agreement is largely in response to the poor accreditation rules the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture proposed a year ago. The USDA is still busy sloshing through the 280,000 comments it received. In this scenario, the USDA would merely help implement the industry-led system of accreditation. Organic leaders say now is the time to develop an alternative plan before the government comes up with one.
IFOAM, in conjunction with industry, could have a complete organic inspection,
certification, and accreditation structure in place before the U.S. government can even come up with a set of standards.
“This is the only industry that wants stricter standards. Can you imagine the auto industry asking for stricter standards?,” asked Andrew Duchovnay, publisher of Organic Law Review.
IFOAM Email: IFOAM@t-online.de
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Source: Natural Foods Merchandiser
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