Currently, the organic personal care industry is a bit of a mess, providing fodder for some of the most heated debates since the National Organic Program (NOP) was created. Most everyone would
agree that today’s organic personal care marketplace is ripe for consumer (and industry) confusion due to many factors ranging from the increasing number of organic and natural certifications popping up, to the
wide range of products making misleading claims (often without any
third-party verification), as well as the not-so-positive media coverage
that has resulted from all this.
Within the personal care debate, there are many passionate voices,
each with their own ideas on how organic personal care should
progress—from those who believe organic personal care should be regulated according to the NOP food standards, to others who feel that it
should remain privatized, and many voices in between.
To help sort things out, Organic Processing has brought together industry leaders to provide an overview of organic personal care, followed by several different viewpoints and proposed solutions.
A Brief History of Organic
Personal Care
By Tom Hutcheson, Regulatory and Policy
Manager, Organic Trade Association (OTA)
When the Organic Foods Production
Act (OFPA) of 1990 was written to
establish national standards and
certification for organically produced
food, its authors didn’t design it to
cover non-food items per se. However,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) published a rule on Aug. 23,
2005, which stated that products,
including personal care, may be
labeled “organic” and carry the USDA
seal, as long as they meet the NOP
standards for food.
Meanwhile, all personal care products are regulated by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA),
not USDA. While USDA signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with
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