Organic Certification and Who Is Excluded From It

Organic is a legal term with a certification behind it. An operation may not sell, label or represent a product as organic unless it is produced and handled under an approved system and, in most cases, certified by an accredited agent. The certification is granted by a private or state agent that the department has accredited, which means the operation's day-to-day relationship is with the agent rather than with the government.

The application, the plan and the first inspection

Certification begins with an application to an accredited agent, and the substance of the application is the organic system plan. The plan describes the practices and procedures to be performed, the substances to be used with their sources and their intended application, the monitoring practices that will verify the plan is working, the recordkeeping system, and the management practices and physical barriers that prevent commingling of organic and non-organic product and prevent contact with prohibited substances.

The agent reviews the plan, then conducts an on-site inspection. The inspection covers the land, the facilities, the records and the inputs, and includes an exit interview. If the agent determines the operation complies, it issues certification, which continues in effect until surrendered, suspended or revoked. Continuation requires an annual update to the plan and an annual inspection, and agents also conduct unannounced inspections and residue testing across a portion of the operations they certify.

Production and handling requirements

The land requirement comes first because it takes the longest. Any field or farm parcel from which organic crops are harvested must have had no prohibited substance applied for a period of three years immediately preceding harvest of the crop. That period cannot be shortened, and it is why transition planning starts years before the first certified sale.

Crop production requires practices maintaining or improving soil and water quality, including crop rotation and management of plant and animal materials. Seed and planting stock must be organically produced where commercially available. Pest, weed and disease management follows a hierarchy: preventive practices first, mechanical and physical controls next, and substances from the national list only where the earlier measures are insufficient.

Livestock requirements cover origin, feed, health care practices and living conditions, including access to the outdoors and, for ruminants, grazing during the grazing season. Handling requirements address processing aids, prohibited methods and the prevention of commingling and contamination in facilities that also handle non-organic product.

The four labeling categories

The remaining non-organic ingredients in the first three categories must themselves comply with restrictions: they must be non-agricultural substances allowed on the national list, or agricultural products not commercially available in organic form and permitted for that use. Excluded methods and ionizing radiation are prohibited in every category.

Records, imports and enforcement

Records must be adapted to the operation, fully disclose all activities and transactions in sufficient detail to be readily understood and audited, and be maintained for five years. The practical test applied at inspection is the audit trail: an inspector traces a finished lot back through processing, receipt and field records to confirm that the organic quantity sold could have been produced by the organic quantity grown or received.

Imported product carries additional documentation, including import certificates for shipments entering the country, and certified operations appear in a public integrity database that buyers use to verify status. A buyer relying on a certificate should confirm the operation and the scope of its certification in that database rather than on the certificate alone.

Selling or labeling product as organic when it does not meet the requirements carries a civil penalty for each violation where done knowingly, together with a period of ineligibility for certification. Because the word is enforced this way, the labeling categories above are not a marketing convention; using organic on a panel where the composition supports only made-with is a violation, not a stylistic choice.

Where organic status meets other requirements

Certification does not displace anything else. Organic produce is subject to the same coverage analysis under the produce safety rules and their exemptions, and the organic standards on raw manure are in places more restrictive than the food safety rule, so an operation must satisfy both. Organic processed product carries the same mandatory panel elements as any other, described in the label content rules, and any nutrient or health claim on the package is governed by the claim category requirements.

Certified organic status does carry one direct financial consequence elsewhere: a person producing and marketing solely certified organic products may apply for exemption from checkoff assessments, under the terms described in the assessment collection and exemption rules. Some marketing orders similarly exempt certified organic handlers from promotion assessments, though the grade and container terms in the handler obligations under an order generally continue to apply.