Organic rule

The Federal Register published a final rule from the USDA pertaining to the National Organic Program today. From the rule's summary:

This rule amends the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) regulations to reflect recommendations submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) from November 17, 2005 through October 19, 2006. The amendments addressed in this final rule pertain to the continued exemption (use) and prohibition of 168 substances in organic production and handling. Consistent with the recommendations from the NOSB, this final rule renews 165 exemptions and prohibitions on the National List (along with any restrictive annotations) and removes 3 exemptions from the National List.


The USDA reported some feedback from the earlier proposed rule:


AMS received 11 comments on proposed rule AMS-TM-06-0222. Comments were received from organic consumers, trade associations, organic handlers, ingredient manufacturers, and one foreign government. In general, comments were in support of the proposed rule. One commenter questioned of whether AMS had made errors in listing certain proposed substances under Sec. 205.601 by duplicating entries. Specifically, the commenter questioned whether hydrogen peroxide, newspaper or other recycled paper, elemental sulfur, horticultural oils, and lignin sulfonate were duplicates and entered in error. In response to the concern expressed by the commenter, AMS did not list the aforementioned substances in error. The substances appear twice under Sec. 205.601 of the National List because they have multiple uses. For example, hydrogen peroxide is authorized and listed for use under Sec. 205.601(a) as an algicide, disinfectant, and sanitizer. It is also authorized and listed for use under Sec. 205.601(i) as a plant disease control. A few commenters requested that certain proposed exemptions be discontinued due to the assertions that the substances were either (1) nonsynthetic and did not require identification on the National List or (2) were no longer necessary for organic production due to the presence of an alternative. USDA believes that these comments did not provide sufficient information/documentation to support the assertions. We recommend that the commenters submit petitions to the NOSB and have the substances of interest reviewed through the National List review process. A foreign government requested that the Secretary provide scientific justification for the use of Potassium bicarbonate, Humic acids, Lignon sulfonoate, and liquid fish products in organic production. The comment noted that such substances are not included in Annex 2 of the Codex Guidelines for Organically Produced Foods or do not meet Section 5 of the Codex Guidelines. The foreign government also requested the Secretary to explain why the NOSB did not consider removing the prohibition on the use of ``Ash from manure burning'' as they believe its use complies with the principles of organic production. Lastly, they requested an explanation as to why the exemption for nonsynthetic colors was proposed for removal from the National List whereas the exemption for nonsynthetic flavors was proposed for retention.