Tell Me Again Why We Trust The USDuh Organic Lable

I normally don't post twice in one day. Heck, I have a hard time posting twice in one week. But I read this little article and it just added fuel to my fire. I have many soap boxes on which to stand and this is one of them. I am continually amazed that we, as a people, trust the government to do anything for our "well being". I will post the article here, but it must be noted that I am not the author of it. This article was written by Mr. Alan Nation of the Stockman Grassfarmer. You can read more articles on his blog, found at www.stockmangrassfarmer.net Read on.


USDA De-certifies Large Organic Livestock Producer

Thursday, 03 December 2009
The USDA has decertified Promiseland Livestock LLC from the National Organic Program for four years citing multiple improprieties including not feeding organic grain to feedlotted cattle, selling fraudulent organic feed and "laundering" conventional cattle as organic. The company could have been fined millions of dollars for these violations but the USDA declined to do so. This calls into question just how tough the Obama administration is going to be in enforcing the organic law. Miles McEvoy, the new director of the National Organic Program, had previously stated that the program was entering a new "age of enforcement." His predecessor under the Bush administration largely refused to enforce the law at all. Promiseland with operations in Missouri and Nebraska was a major supplier of replacement dairy cattle to Dean Foods (Horizon Dairy), Natural Prairie in Texas and Aurora Dairy based in Colorado. Attention will now shift to Promiseland’s organic certifier, Quality Assurance International (QAI). QAI was also the certifier for Aurora Dairy which was cited by the USDA as having "willfully violated" 14 tenets of the organic law but which received no punishment for having done so.. QAI also certifies Dean Foods organic dairies. Critics of the USDA Certified Organic program point out that certifiers who earn big checks from the people they certify have no incentive to turn them in if they violate the law as this will end their certification fees. Such glaring inconsistencies and the lack of enforcement of the rules by the USDA have made many consumers skeptical of all Certified Organic products.