Team Members: Brian Gillis, Lisa Villarreal, Maria Centanni

Advisor: John Garcia

Topic/Audience: Lenient Labeling: Federal Standards for Organic Food Labeling

Executive Summary

We, the members of the National Organic Standards Board convene today, in November of 2003, to address the Congressional Subcommittee on Commercial Food Labeling to make recommendations regarding the recent change in commercial food labeling policy. The National Organic Standards Board is the division of the United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] concerned with the regulation of the production and labeling of organic foods; as such we are here to address the change in federal policy, passed in February of this year, that rolled back previous legislation regulating organic food production, lowering the standards for what kinds of products can be labeled organic. The National Organic Standards Board, after evaluating the legal framework of the issue, and the financial and ethical ramifications of the new policy, recommends that Congress reverse the February rollback, and reinstate higher regulations for labeling organic foods.