Consumer demand for organic food is booming, with sales topping $43 billion a year, creating the opportunity for importers to claim, fraudulently, that their goods deserve the premium attached to organics, according to a report by the office of the USDA’s inspector general (OIG). “Without controls in place at U.S. ports of entry to verify the authenticity of organic import certificates, non-organic products may be imported as organic if unscrupulous parties are willing to use fraudulent organic import certificates,” says the OIG.
The inspector general at USDA conducted the review following a Washington Post story saying millions of pounds of corn and soybeans were imported as organic livestock feed despite evidence they were grown with conventional methods. USDA has revoked the organic designation of two of the companies involved in the imports.
In the report, the OIG said, “We visited seven ports of entry to observe [USDA] controls in place to oversee and enforce” the National Organic Program (NOP). “We concluded the [USDA] had not established and implemented controls at U.S. ports of entry to ensure importers comply with the requirements.” The report suggested coordination with other federal agencies that oversee imports.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, which runs the organic program, said, “[P]rotecting the integrity of organic products in the United States and throughout the world is the NOP’s core mission,” and that it accepted the OIG’s nine recommendations.
Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree, a certified organic farmer, said she was “very concerned about the loopholes” found by OIG that allowed non-organic food into the United States under the guise of being organic.