For anyone feeling at sea about how to make themselves heard on  food concerns, now's your chance. The USDA has just released an agenda describing what they call 'significant and not significant regulations' being developed in its agencies. Two are of serious interest to anyone worried about the dependability of the National Organic Program (NOP)'s meat and dairy product certification. Administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the NOP's work in a nation as large as the US is the labor of Sysiphus.

Hands up how many eatWashingtonians know that the NOP is staffed by fewer than 12 employees. Still, it managed in August to place on probation 15 of the 30 federally accredited organic certifiers for various violations of USDA organic standards. Your paying over the odds for organic-labeled produce and products has not been a guarantee that they are in fact organic.  

On the USDA's agenda is the following statement regarding access to pasture - that is, what your organic meat has been fed on:

"Since implementation of the NOP, some members of the public have advocated for a more explicit regulatory standard on the relationship between livestock, particularly dairy
animals, and grazing land. They have asserted the current regulatory language on access to pasture for ruminants and temporary confinement based on an animal's stage of production, when applied together, do not provide a uniform requirement for the pasturing of ruminant animals that meet the principles underlying an organic management system for livestock and livestock products that consumers expect."

This means there's no guarantee that beef cattle sold as 'organic' are being raised on organic feed at every stage of their development.

Also cited are "Some members of the public (who) have advocated for amending the regulations for sourcing dairy replacement animals. They have asserted that the current regulatory language on sourcing dairy replacement animals lacks clarity, has established an inequitable two track system, and has harmed organic dairy producers by creating an environment that has prevented the development of a market for organic dairy replacement animals. They seek amendment to the regulations to require that once a dairy operation has converted to organic production all future animals be organic from the last third of gestation." Which is government-speak to describe the possibility that dairy cattle that have not been raised organically can nonetheless be counted as organic at a dairy farm that has been certified organic.

If you would like to be among those members of the public making your views known, the contact is Richard H. Mathews, Chief of Standards Development and Review Branch, Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250, phone 202 720 3252, fax 202 205 7808, email: richard.mathews@usda.gov.

If you feel strongly, go ahead. After all, the USDA's agenda states "Comments received as a result of the proposed rule will assist in determining the Agency's next steps in rulemaking" on these issues.