be found on the bill of lading, such as
container and shipment number, lot
number, organic status, year of harvest, type of product (as specific as
possible, including variety/cultivar if
possible) and exact amounts. Any
major international certification
agency should be willing to issue a
transaction certificate for organic imports for a small fee.
If the issuance of a transaction certificate is not deemed satisfactory, the
buyer should consider drawing a sample and have it tested for possible
contamination. This testing should be
geared to the most probable contaminants, taking into account factors
such as the nature of the product itself and the product origin.
If it’s a new supplier and/or the
risk is deemed substantial, a buyer
should send a representative to the
producer and have a sample taken
under supervision and tested in an accredited laboratory. This part should
be planned well in advance, as the
availability of accredited laboratories
in less industrialized areas of the
world is not necessarily a given.
Industry Action. In addition, it’s
highly advisable for an institution
within the U.S. organic community to
start a continuous analysis program to
test samples of organic ingredients—
specifically imports—for pesticide
contamination. Several countries
such as Germany already have programs like this. A measure such as this
in the United States would demonstrate the importance the organic
community lends to this issue, and
would most likely lend creditability to
imported items, while at the creating
a way to identify and address problems that exist. The results should be
published (including origins) and
would constitute a sound basis for
making statements on the quality and
integrity of organic products.
With regard to the NOP, a few simple changes should be considered to
improve traceability.
• A transaction certificate should be made mandatory for imported
bulk organic ingredients. Since the NOP requires that any NOP-accredited certifier accepts the certification decisions of any other
NOP-accredited certifier, in and of itself a valuable principle, this
will at least make the certifier in the country of origin aware in
real-time that this specific batch of product was sold and shipped,
thereby reducing the risk of fraud considerably.
• There should be a mandated way to indicate necessary renewal
dates on organic certificates, and the certificates should be required to describe product.
• The NOP should devise a way to better secure the organic integrity
of commercial fertilizers. This system should at least include three
components: annual testing of the fertilizer in question, random
buying of samples in stores and testing of those samples, and
facility inspection.
Dr. Winfried Fuchshofen is the owner and CEO of Organic
Insights ( www.organicinsights.com), a research and consulting
firm. He has more than 25 years’ experience in organic agriculture
and processing, ranging from managing an organic farm to serving as a project leader and researcher in a variety of organic and
environmental endeavors. He has developed risk management
programs for organic products as well as the first database for organic imports in
the USA. Winfried can be contacted at wf@organicinsights.com.
