Tag: US Department of Agriculture

USDA Finalizes the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule

  • USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) administers the National Organic Program (NOP) as authorized by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA).  The USDA organic regulations, which were published on December 21, 2000, and became effective on October 21, 2002, govern the production, handling, labeling, and sale of organically produced agricultural products.  On August 5, 2020, in response to mandates in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, as well as pressure from the industry and recommendations from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), USDA published a proposed rule called Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) that is aimed at preventing loss of organic integrity—through unintentional mishandling of organic products and intentional fraud meant to deceive—and strengthening trust in the USDA organic label.
  • On January 19, 2023, USDA published the SOE final rule.  The final rule includes clarifications and additional examples in response to comments received on the SOE proposed rule.  Key updates include:
    • Requiring certification of more businesses, like brokers and traders, at critical links in organic supply chains;
    • Requiring NOP Import Certificates for all organic imports;
    • Requiring organic identification on nonretail containers;
    • Increasing authority for more rigorous on-site inspections of certified operations;
    • Requiring uniform qualification and training standards for organic inspectors and certifying agent personnel;
    • Requiring standardized certificates of organic operation;
    • Requiring additional and more frequent reporting of data on certified operations;
    • Creating authority for more robust recordkeeping, traceability practices, and fraud prevention procedures; and
    • Specifying certification requirements for producer groups.
  • The compliance date for the SOE final rule is March 19, 2024, or 12 months after the effective date of March 19, 2023.

Article By Food and Drug Law Practice Group at Keller and Heckman

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USDA Withdraws Biotech Regulation Proposal

  • As previously covered on this blog, on January 19, 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a proposed rule to update its regulations regarding the importation, interstate movement, and environmental release of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms in response to advances in genetic engineering and the Agency’s understanding of the plant pest and noxious weed risk posed by genetically engineered organisms.  These requirements have not been comprehensively revised since they were established in 1987.
  • On November 7, 2017, APHIS published a notice in the Federal Register (82 Fed. Reg. 51582) announcing its withdrawal of the January 19th proposed rule.  In withdrawing the proposed rule, APHIS cited stakeholder feedback critical of the proposed revisions.  As previously covered on our blog this summer, in comments submitted to APHIS, industry stakeholders applauded the Agency’s proposed rule as underscoring the need to promote innovation in biotechnology and for proposing to ease regulation of gene-edited products.  But at the same time, industry called out a number of proposed revisions as improperly expanding USDA’s review process in certain respects which could effectively hamstring developers before they can even begin testing products.
  • In its November 7th withdrawal of the proposed rule, APHIS stated that it is committed to exploring “a full range of policy alternatives” and that the Agency will “re-engage with stakeholders to determine the most effective, science-based approach for regulating the products of modern biotechnology while protecting plant health.” Now that APHIS has decided to go back to the drawing board, industry has an opportunity to work with APHIS to develop revised requirements to facilitate a regulatory framework that promotes innovation in biotechnology.
This post was written by Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman of Keller and Heckman LLP., © 2017
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