Details
Reorganization at USDA All Things Organic 2008 Trade Show Coming Up in April
National Organic Program The 2008 All Things Organic
Conference and Trade Show is to be
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of
held April 26-29 at McCormick Place
USDA announced on February 4th organizational
in Chicago. This years conference
and structural changes for the National Organic
keynote speakers include John Moore,
Program (NOP) after five-marketing mastermind behind
plus years of program
Starbucks and Whole Foods Market, as well as, Bobby Flay, chef/restaurateur,
implementation.
cookbook author and Food Network television personality. The show will also
The NOP is
feature five Organic 101 conference sessions to help those new to the industry.
reorganizing into
Presented by the Organic Trade Association in partnership with Diversified
three branches:
Business Communications, this year’s event teams with two other trade shows—
standards devel-the Spring Fancy Food Show, and the U.S. Food Export Showcase—in an event
opment and
billed as “The Global Food and Style Expo”. For more information go to
review; accredita-www.organicexpo.com.
tion, auditing
and training; and
compliance and enforce- New Organic Cotton Standards
ment. Deputy administrator Organic Exchange (OE) has now complet-for transportation and marketing programs, ed their new standards that will support
Barbara Robinson, will assume overall leadership companies in making fiber-only claims
for the NOP in addition to her other duties, while about the organic cotton content of their
Mark Bradley will assume leadership for the products. The OE 100 and OE Blended
accreditation, auditing and training branch, and standards track the purchase, handling and use
Richard Mathews will head up the standards of organically grown cotton fiber as it moves through the production
development and review branch. No decision has process into yarns, fabrics and finished goods. The OE 100 standard tracks
been made for leadership of Compliance and the use of 100 percent organic fiber and the OE Blended standard tracks
Enforcement at this time. fiber content in products where the organic cotton is blended with other
Also underway is the creation of an electronic fiber types. For more information, go to www.organicexchange.org.
reading room, where all NOP records that can be
made publicly available will be accessible on the 2008 Non-GMO Sourcebook A vailable
web, including a new Q&A site to provide answers As genetically modified crops increase world-to questions posed to the NOP. Only answers post- wide, food producers are concerned about the availed on the Q&A site will constitute an official ability of non-GMO supplies to meet consumer
response from the NOP. The Q&A site will be a demands. The “2008 Non-GMO Sourcebook” fea-component of a reorganized NOP site called tures more than 700 suppliers of non-GMO products
“NOP-AQSS” (Answers to Questions on the and services, including: non-GMO and organic seeds,
Standards by the Staff). grains and ingredients; experts in GMO testing, identi-According to USDA, these changes will help ty preservation, and organic certification; and an easy-NOP continue to accomplish its goals—ensuring to-use index by product. Subscribers to The Organic &
the integrity of the USDA organic seal, applying Non-GMO Report newsletter receive “The 2007 Nonregulatory consistency and providing transparency GMO Sourcebook” as a free bonus. To purchase or for
to its stakeholders. more information go to www.non-gmoreport.com.
Organic Processing Magazine Welcomes Seeds of Change’s Shapiro to Our Board
Organic Processing Magazine is excited to welcome Howard-Yana Shapiro to our editorial board. As a co-founder
and a vice president at Seeds of Change, as well as the global director of plant science and external research at
Mars Incorporated, Shapiro brings a wealth of expertise and insight to the table. Shapiro was the first to bring
organic seeds to market and was also responsible for helping create a world renowned organic research farm, as
well as helping develop the Seeds of Change brand. Over the years he has become known as one of the foremost
experts on sustainability and last year he was awarded Organic Trade Association’s Organic Leadership Award.
