USDA Waters Down Organic Standards

That's the Bush Administration for you!

As if it isn't already hard enough to go grocery shopping and reading all the labels for the "secret ingredients" and trying to decifer everything etc....
This REALLY makes me mad!

Sounds to me like we need a list of all things that will be allowed to be used, and a list of companies that will be using them. Then boycott those companies. Vote with your dollar!

Then I propose that all wannabe "Organic" American products be labeled with something like:

"Almost Organic", or "U.S. organic" or my personal favorite..."This product is organic accept for the fact that it isn't."

Perhaps there should be a different body to govern organic industries, one that won't bend to the largest lobby...I'd look for that label over the USDA label for sure!

Why would anyone who cares about the environment or healthy eating be eating sausage or fish anyway?

Interesting. Sounds like we now need a brand new organic label. Perhaps something like "Actually Organic," or "100% Organic," or "Subterfuge Free."

it will leave room for another standard to come in tho. someone will see the complains if everyone sings loud enough for long enough and youll end up with something like "100% organic" or something that cant be tainted.

i get piffed when in AUS in coles we can only get freerange eggs from a supplier that still does caged eggs. to me, buying the freerangers still supports the caging.. double standards everywhere, its all about marketting and making a buck.

Grr! How can anyone just not shake their head at this. Do the industries have this much power? It'd be nice to know the names of each new name on the list, find out who's been pushing for it, and just boycott those manufacturers. It's not the gov't pushing, I imagine (granted, they are allowing themselves to BE pushed)...it's industry. Who sells US stuff. Strangely, stuff we should want to buy, and dictate to them through market forces. Last time I looked, I didn't want mercury in anything I eat, regardless of cost. If I knew which one of the many manufacturers I rely on for my food is trying to slip me something not so great, I'd happily knock that company off my list. But they are hiding behind a shield of anonymity.

Out with the names! Glad Anheuser was mentioned...there's a beer brand I won't drink now.

And guess this also says consider local farmers rather than distant corporations, to whom you are just a working stiff with a mouth to feed [with increasingly bad-yet-labelled-good food], money in hand.

Rant over ;) [regrets to anyone bored...just so frustrating!]

I agree with Damo. Time to got the way of LEED certification. I propose, True Organic Certified, TOC.

I am so mad!

I knew USDA was already a sub-standard certification, but now this!
So yet another standard to knock of my list. Might as well. I live in Canada, serves me right for being lazy and getting food from so afar.

At least now I will definitely inquire more about local organic growers and my plans to build a small greenhouse will come to fruition sooner then I thought!

Corporate America = the Devil. No doubts about it

INCREDIBLE!!!

NO WORDS. What will be the next?? Maybe OGM will be organic????

They are going after our chocolate, too:
http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/
Manufacturers filed a petition to use vegetable fats in place of cocoa butter, but still call it "chocolate" (rather than "chocolate-flavored").
I think the comment period is over.

Organic Foods were created by Organic Farmers. The USDA has co-opted the term organic. This means we will still pay the higher price for organics while buying non-organic foods. This is a win win for corporations.

"Do the industries have this much power?"

OverMatt, the corperations and capitalists control america, the government is not controlled by the people at all.

And this will just lead to a third party certification to come forward which truly is organic like mentioned above. Yes it is still an outrage but that is capitalism for you.

I've had enough of this. I am leaving the USA for greener pastures. Sayonarra, evil country.

@atom:

I'm personally vegetarian, but many noted environmentalists, including Tim Flannery, Lester Brown, and Michael Pollan, are unabashed omnivores.

On top of that the FDA is trying to make all natural products or organic where you have to take them with a prescription. Now how many doctors do you know who would prescribe an organic natural cure for some easily curable disease when he makes more money by putting people on drugs for the rest of there life's. it aggravates me so much. There are so many natural remedies to feed your body into health, but the drug companies make more money keeping you sick and addicted to there drugs. Its BS>>>>>>>>>

YAYYYY!!! ONE MORE THING TO HATE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION FOR!!! isnt the point of eating organic food, to avoid all the crap thats not organic?

Hre's an agle. Maybe provocative. May be controversial. It's just an opinion.

USDA Organic has been a rubber stamp for years, only affordable to agricultural producers who have time or can pay someone for THEIR time to stay on top of the paper work involved. USDA doesn't check the fields, the produce. It's just a rubber stamp. So really it COULD HAVE BEEN anything.

NOW USDA is saying it's OKAY to be "ANYTHING."

Okay. So "USDA Organic" should be recognized as "Whatever" A grab bag. who knows what it is. Okay got. been had got it, too.

If you want clean unadulterated/unengineered food: collect the seeds of what you eat, what you like. Grow your own. Know your farmer. Buy organic certified as such by a reputable organization. (There are state and regional organic certification organizations)

If you eat dead animals as well as dead and living plants/produce then raise animals, too.

Don't waste time asking criminals for justice.

If they are not supported with our labor, our money, our attention....then they will dry up and disappear. They have a finite lifetime in their bodies, too.

CLEAN Food, water, shelter, cooking fuel, heating, cooling, electricity. We are too dependent on enemies of life for the basic necessities of life.

USDA Organic has always been tongue in cheek organic, now they are just shuffling more paper. Clean food has always been in our best interest, and so we continue to complain that so and so isn't producing it for us.

Deep. Maybe we need to learn to feed ourselves. Food first, THEN make money online. :)

What's next? Fast food fom MacDonald's, now organic? Read your labels. If I can't pronounce it, I am not eating it. This country is fascinating, isn't it?

"Maybe we need to learn to feed ourselves." Is a point that I have mulled around for such a long time. It is so deliciously good in theory and provides us with the chance to regulate what we consume.

Yet.

If we're spending all of our time cultivating acres of land to sustain ourselves and our families there is no possible way to sustain any other services. When the world was new, the protectors did not farm, the teachers did not farm. There are designated people we have entrusted (and who have 'chosen') to do certain services. If we each farm our own produce, who then builds hospitals, teaches our young, fashions our clothing, maintains any sustainable aspect of modern society?

Rhetorical questions.

We've got to trust someone. Yes, let's make our voice heard to regulate who that trusted entity (corporation, organization, person) is.