Dive Brief:
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The Organic Trade Association has launched a three-month pilot program to try to prevent fraud in the organic industry. The program is voluntary for organic producers who enrolled, OTA said in a release, and a best practices guide will help participants adopt procedures designed to maintain the integrity of the "USDA Organic" seal.
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Participants in the June through September pilot program come from all along the organic supply chain and include Clarkson Grain Co., Egg Innovations, Global Organics, Grain Millers, I Was Thinking, MOM's Organic Market, Organically Grown Company, Organic Valley CROPP Cooperative, Pipeline Foods, JM Smucker Co. and True Organic Products.
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"We’ve worked for a year to develop a fraud prevention program for organic, and now we need to have companies put our recommendations to the test in their everyday business activities to find the elements that have to be further developed," Gwendolyn Wyard, OTA's vice-president of regulatory and technical affairs, said in a release. "This pilot project is key to advancing the adoption of an industry-wide systemic approach to preserving organic integrity from the farm to the plate and to ensuring the honesty of global control systems."
Dive Insight:
Not having a fraud prevention plan in place risks losing consumer trust in the entire organic supply chain, so this OTA pilot program is a smart move. Establishing best practices and getting them adopted industrywide is the end game for the group, which plans to collect recommendations from the pilot participants, compile and revise the results and possibly have them adopted by the National Organic Standards Board this fall.
There have been a few well-publicized instances of organic fraud, including a 2016 shipment of conventionally grown Turkish corn and soybeans that was imported to the U.S. under the "USDA Organic" label. High-profile cases like this led consumers to question the integrity — and premium prices — of organic products.
The pilot program participants represent an array of different commodities — as well as manufacturers, handlers, distributors and one retailer — so they may be able to cover the supply chain challenges organic products face. Rebecca Willows, senior compliance specialist for Northwest produce distributor Organically Grown, told The Packer she will be tracking pineapples because they're imported, pass through various handlers and aren't labeled like packaged items. She also plans to track berries because they fetcher higher prices and are therefore more susceptible to fraud.
It remains to be seen how much this pilot program will help counter fraud potential, but at least OTA can show consumers it's addressing the issue. Once best practices are adopted, the proof will be in whether additional fraud is uncovered — or less of it is attempted.
OTA said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program is involved in its initiative as a collaborating partner, so the government will be working alongside industry on fraud prevention strategies. It might be useful to have more retailers involved at this stage, but that may come later after the best practices are adopted.
There are other anti-fraud efforts involving organics, Food Navigator reported. A request in this year's Farm Bill would give the National Organic Program $5 million more for technology updates to better certify and track organic products. While that proposal may not get anywhere this year, OTA's pilot program doesn't depend on a politicized process in a partisan Congress to get rolling — and maybe to start making a difference.