Democratic Senators Ask USDA About Work to Curtail Fraudulent Organic Imports
Three Senate Democrats in a June 26 letter (here) requested an update from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on how his department is addressing non-organic food imports fraudulently sold to U.S. consumers as “USDA-certified organic.” Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, requested that the office of the USDA inspector general work with National Organic Program (NOP) enforcement to examine imports and identify any corrective actions. Recent press reports (see 1705150031) "detailing cases where non-organic products, particularly corn and other grains, were exported to the United States and illegally sold as organic are very troubling,” the senators said. “Organic farmers in the United States cannot be expected to compete against fraudulent organic imports, and American consumers have the right to expect that products sold as organic meet the criteria for use of the organic label as required by law.”
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The senators asked Perdue how well existing “equivalency arrangements or related protocols” facilitate timely reporting of bad actors, including certifying agents, between USDA and foreign agencies; as well as whether USDA has adequate authority, tools, shared information, data and real-time updates to take action against suspected fraud, “including suspending NOP imports from bad actors in countries with poor governance, inadequate supply chain transparency, or lack of proper in-country oversight.” The senators also asked Perdue whether USDA has sufficient resources and staffing levels to investigate and enforce NOP criteria for imports, “including investigating alleged misconduct by accredited-certifying agents.”