Jul 12, 2023

Resource on Strengthening Organic Enforcement available

Consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal has fueled industry growth and market expansion, according to the agency’s National Organic Program (NOP), which is tasked with ensuring rules protect the organic market as it grows.

The NOP has published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) final rule to improve market protections, making it harder to cheat the system, according to the NOP.

“SOE protects the integrity of the organic supply chain and builds consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations,” according to a USDA news release.

To help organic certifiers and operations comply with the rule, NOP has published a new SOE reference resource online.

Topics in the document include:

• Who needs to be certified
• Improving traceability and preventing organic fraud
• Import certificates
• Certificates of organic operation and the organic integrity database
• On-site inspections, and continuation of certification
• Nonretail labeling and calculating percent organic
• Personnel training and qualifications
• Compliance, mediation and appeals
• Producer groups, satellite offices and equivalency

These online resources also provide a quick guide to changes in the code of federal regulations (CFR) references resulting from SOE.