For companies using the organic label on their product, they must be accredited by an organic certification agent. Some of these agents work in a single state, while others work world-wide. Of the 97 certifying agent organizations accredited by USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), as of March 2005, about 60 percent -58- were based in the US. Some of them work with small-scale farms while others work with processors and retailers. The NOP’s National Organic Standard (NOS) became effective in October, 2002, and is an expanding set of regulations that define how crops and livestock are grown, processed, handled in the marketplace and sold as organic products.
The organic certifier agent’s goal is to guarantee that the set of standards established by the USDA are met by all companies using the organic label. These companies include all types of food processors, farms, livestock operations, and retail businesses.
One of the best resources providing information about the organic certifier organizations is an online organic directory provided by the Rodale Institute, the Guide to U.S. Organic Certifiers. The process of certification for a company is tedious, but it assures buyers of organically grown products, that they are purchasing an organic product which has been certified by an accredited independent third party. It assures the consumer that the certification process meets the uniform organic standards of the NOP.
The steps to certification include
application;
OSP Organic System Plan which describes how the company will operate it’s organic system. For example, growers must describe their growing fields and inputs to those fields, risks of any contamination, run off from surrounding fields, pest control management, and commodity storage, among other issues;
reviews by certifiers;
inspections of facilities, with reports of on-site findings sent to certifier agent organizations;
a certificate indicating that the company meets the NOP’s, National Organic Standards.
The strength of the certification program was indicated when the NOP announced that it had revoked the accreditation of the California Crop Improvement Association (CCIA), an organic certifier which during an audit was found to have 10 deficiencies, and the organic certifier was unable to correct six of them.
It appears that the organic certification program established by the NOP has a strong program of third party, private organic certification organizations to ensure that consumers can buy organic products with confidence.
D. Quentin Webb, Ph.D., earned three university degrees, not online, during eight years of university studies. This background provides the tools and mindset for the research and writing that he is currently undertaking.
During his 40 years in the employment stream, he spent considerable time studying and using, in a street smart manner, the healthy living information that he found during his practical research. Diet, nutrition, natural foods, vitamins, minerals, herbs, alternative medicine were the areas of research and practical use.
The author is well over 65 years old, and is a testament to his healthy living efforts. He has a vast reservoir of energy, very alert, no aches or pains, is very active, never gets the flu or colds, and is slender and athletic. In short, he is quite healthy.
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