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Food News


THIS SECTION IS FOR NEWS AND INTERESTING STORIES RELATED TO FOOD, NUTRITION AND FOOD PROCESSING. THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY RELATED TO KOSHER BUT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THE KOSHER CONSUMER, MANUFACTURER OR MASHGIACH.

The following news is from Barfblog on December 14, 2014.

"The $35 billion U.S. organic-food industry has nearly tripled in size in the past decade, challenging the Agriculture Department’s ability to monitor the more than 25,000 farms and other organizations that sell organic crops and livestock."
"There are currently 81 accredited 'certifying agents,' or groups that stamp food as organic in the U.S. But of the 37 that had a complete review this year, 23 were cited for failing to correctly enforce certification requirements on farms in audits, according to an internal Agriculture Department report. The 23 firms didn’t properly conduct onsite inspections or correctly review applications for organic certification."
A Wall Street Jounal investigation found that "40% of these 81 certifiers have been flagged by the USDA for conducting incomplete inspections; 16% of certifiers failed to cite organic farms’ potential use of banned pesticides and antibiotics; and 5% failed to prevent potential commingling of organic and nonorganic products."


The following news is from Foodmanufacturing.com on December 10, 2014.

"For a farm to be certified as “organic,” it must comply with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) rules and regulations. 7 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.; 7 C.F.R. Part 205. An operator who makes a false statement or knowingly sells or labels a product as organic that does not comply with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 or the NOP regulations may be subject to criminal prosecution and fined up to $10,000 per violation." The govenment is also using criminal prosecution as a tool. "Criminal prosecutions generally receive significant press attention and have a strong deterrent effect, which could make them a powerful tool for ensuring the integrity of organic food labels." Companies must ensure their supply chain and if they see a problem, contact the appropriate authorities and seek restitition.

The previous item can be cited with the URL: https://www.kashrut.com/News/?alert=W266

The information posted is from secondary sources. We cannot take responsibility for the accuracy of the information.
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