USDA says OK to adding 38 nonorganic foods to the organic food list

This past Friday the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the proposal to allow 38 nonorganic ingredients to be used in foods that are certified "USDA Organic." Thankfully there are 60 days in which we, as the public, can comment upon this. Just in the past month alone, the USDA received more than 1,000 complaints that pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones should not be used in food.

Some manufacturers pushed for this change because they claim that the 38 items are minor ingredients. Further arguments include the fact that these companies claim that these products are hard to find in their organic form. These items include 19 food colorings, 2 starches, hops, sausage casings, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, gelatin, celery powder, dill weed oil, frozen lemon grass, Wakame seaweed, Turkish bay leaves and whey protein concentrate. Companies argue that allowing small amounts of these nonorganic ingredients to be used will allow for more "mostly organic" foods to be created.

People are now arguing that if the label says that the product is organic, then everything in that food should be organic. There should be no exception allowing for companies to put nonorganic things in a product that is labeled "organic." This only makes sense. Unfortunately, there are a lot of foods, such as cereal, sausage, bread, beer, pasta, candy and soup mixes, that will be affected by this ruling.

Considering the fact that organic sales have more than doubled in the last 5 years alone, the USDA seems to not be listening to the public, but to their pocketbooks instead. Statistics show that big food makers such as General Mills, Kellogs and Kraft are now contributing to the array of foods that use to only be available from mom-and-pop farms. The reason why it took a while for big food makers to take note of this probably has to do with the fact that this is not conventional. In fact, current USDA regulations define "organic" as having no chemical fertilizers, sewage sludge, bioengineering or pesticides. It also states that animals must be raised without antibiotics or growth hormones and given access to free range (outdoors).

For those people who truly want to eat only organic foods, this is going to cause a huge problem. Therefore, if you are concerned about this issue, the time is now to stand up and do something about it. Take a moment to email your state's government officials and have them put pressure on the USDA. If you stand up, the FDA will have to take notice.