USDA Organic standards have declined in many ways, and considerably, since first being implemented. New definitions and exemptions have opened the door to more GMO and chemical contamination of USDA organic. Though all organic Eden food is grown, handled, processed, and certified in ways that meet and exceed requirements for using the ‘USDA Organic’ seal, Eden chooses not to use that seal on its labels. It does not approach Eden Foods' standards for organic, in practice or in spirit.
For those who work to defend and improve requirements for use of the word ‘organic,’ creating appropriate U.S. national standards has been a failing struggle for over three decades. In October 2005 Congress voted to allow toxic synthetic ingredients in organic food. In late 2006 the USDA stacked the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) with corporate and personal special interests.
A national organic program should have refined organic standards and consumer confidence. Instead it has allowed imitators and adulterators to more easily cash in on the public's trust of the newly defined USDA marketing term ‘organic.’
This plays in perfect harmony with forces that want to weaken and corrupt the organic movement: certain ‘big ag,’ chemical, biotech, and drug conglomerates that view organic food as a threat to profits. So here we are - It is now an accepted fact that organic food no longer has to be natural food.
In communicating the Organic Trade Association's (OTA's) complicity in eroding U.S. organic standards, the intent is not to polarize, but to educate. It is our duty and responsibility to inform our peers and customers of the fact that the OTA is not the advocate of strong standards that it claims to be. Caveat emptor doctrine places the responsibility on us to know about what we are purchasing, and it absolves the seller from having to communicate to, share with, or tell us what is in their organic food.
Recovering organic standards requires all of us to ask questions, scrutinize food companies, know where our food comes from, and how it is handled. Eden encourages everyone to Be an Organic Skeptic.