Greenwire: The National Organic Program will begin complying with a law requiring that organic products be subjected to spot tests for banned substances such as pesticides, the office within the U.S. Agriculture Department announced Friday.
Miles McEvoy, deputy administrator of the organic program, said implementation of spot testing will be one of several responses to a recent audit that described failures of oversight within the office. The audit, released Thursday, showed that USDA’s National Organic Program had moved slowly with enforcement of organic marketing cases, allowing some violators to continue using the government’s green emblem for years (Greenwire, March 19).
Testing for residues will begin around September, conducted by USDA-accredited independent certifying agents. Of the 28,000 federally certified organic operations worldwide, McEvoy said, the targets will likely include operations with the greatest risk of contamination, such as organic farms adjacent to nonorganic operations.
The program’s 2010 budget is $6.9 million, up from $3.9 million last year. Last month, the Obama administration proposed increasing the office’s budget to $10 million next year. Increased funding will allow the office to nearly double its staff from 16 to 31 this year and then grow to about 40 next year, McEvoy said.
Christine Bushway, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, said the industry group would welcome more oversight by the office, which was previously too “underfunded and understaffed” to fulfill its responsibilities.
“Compliance and enforcement are critical to the seal and the long-term health of the industry,” Bushway said (William Neuman, New York Times, March 19). – GN