Back in December [2016], the Freedom Caucus [a group of US House Republicans] released a “recommended list of regulations to remove.” Among its 228 targets … the group named the National Organic Program.
[T]he NOP was established by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 to set uniform national standards for foods and agricultural products labeled “USDA Organic,” replacing the patchwork of state-level standards that had held sway for decades previously. The NOP ensures that food labeled organic really is raised without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers…. [D]ismantling the NOP would generate massive chaos in the food market. A federally enforced, uniform, and fairly stringent set of rules would give way to a hodgepodge, leaving consumers flummoxed about what “organic” means.…
Kathleen Merrigan, who served a long stint as deputy USDA secretary under Obama, has sounded the alarm.
According to a Politico account of her remarks at a [February 2017] food conference, Merrigan warned that “forces of darkness” are “coming together and saying, ‘Let’s sharpen our knives on organic.'”
…
Does the Freedom Caucus really want to nix the [NOP] to save $9 million per year? The $39.7 billion organic-food industry … would likely push back pretty hard.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: “Dark Forces” Are Coming for Your Organic Food
