U.S. Senate panel looks at organic food policing

Lawmakers concerned about authenticity of organic imported food.

The far-reaching difficulties that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has in determining whether imported “organic” food meets standards or is fraudulent means that it’s hard to know what products can be trusted, a grain industry executive told a Senate committee on Thursday, as lawmakers prepare the next farm bill.

The testimony comes after news that millions of pounds of shipments of questionable “organic” products have reached U.S. ports.

Given the current challenges of enforcement, “it is unreasonable to accept that grain being imported into the U.S. as organic has been adequately validated,” Kenneth Dallmier, president of Clarkson Grain, said in his testimony.

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee is collecting information as lawmakers prepare the next major agriculture legislation, and it appears that one key lawmaker is ready to shake up the way the USDA regulates what can be sold as “organic.”

“It seems that uncertainty and dysfunction have overtaken the National Organic Standards Board and the regulations associated with the National Organic Program,” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the committee, said in his opening remarks. “These problems create an unreliable regulatory environment and prevent farmers that choose organic from utilizing advancements in technology and operating their business in an efficient and effective manner. Simply put, this hurts our producers and economies in rural America.”

It was not clear what new technology he was referring to, however, though whether to classify “hydroponics” as organic has become a contentious question among organic farmers.

Roberts also expressed frustration with fraudulent organic imports.

After hearing a year ago from constituents concerned about