By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON D.C. — Steps are being taken to make sure food labeled organic by USDA is truly organic.

Greg Ibach, USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, revealed during a National Organic Standards Board meeting in Tucson last week that increased on-site surveillance is among the undertakings to fully assure consumers of the accuracy of the familiar green-and-white “Organic” label from the agency.

The label from the National Organic Program (NOP) at USDA is part of its farm-to-market process now calling for improved capacity for inspections, increased on-site surveillance, unannounced inspections and other forms of enforcement tightening.

"All of these steps make it harder for bad actors to commit fraud and help us enforce the law when violations are found," Ibach said.

Michelle Person, spokesperson for NOP, said the measures are in response to questions about the authenticity of products billed as organic, including some of the grain shipments into the United States last year. Last year, the inspector general’s office got involved by recommending USDA tighten food monitoring because of reports that some of the 21 million pounds of conventional soybeans and a few million pounds of corn had somehow received a counterfeit USDA organic label.

According to USDA, NOP has certifiers in the U.S and abroad. USDA is working with those certifiers to help them understand expectations and procedures and carry out uniform inspections with appropriate scrutiny at farms both large and small.

Ibach said relationships with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have also been strengthened to help verify organic shipments further. Recently, he said CBP rejected two shipments of corn valued at more than $14 million and a shipment of chickpeas from entering the United States because of suspicions they were not organic as claimed.

Anyone committing such acts of fraud has their organic certificates from USDA revoked, said Ibach.

Food billed as organic hurts consumers, from paying more for what’s falsely represented, and undermines U.S farmers. "Our actions are already having a positive impact on the trustworthiness of organic imports," he said.

According to USDA, the organic food industry continues to grow, with domestic producers increasing 7 percent to 26,000 within the past 12 months. Globally, the number of organic food operations grew 11 percent to 41,000 during the same time period, USDA said.

The Organic Foods Production Act in 1990 required USDA to develop national standards for organic products. Ten years later, NOP and its mission of protecting the USDA organic seal was established. Currently, USDA has the ability to track products suspected of being counterfeit, to their original suppliers.

According to USDA, organic products are available in nearly three out of every four conventional grocery stores and make up more than 4 percent of total U.S food sales. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the leading organic food sellers, followed by dairy, packaged-prepared foods, beverages and breads and grains.

Concerns about the authenticity of organic products were such that a bill doubling the USDA’s budget over five years to $24 million for oversight is being considered in a spending bill presented to Congress late in 2017.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) supported the 1990 creation of the USDA organic program. He said growth in sales has outpaced enforcement.

"We’ve built a tremendous $47 billion a year industry. I’m not going to let it disappear," Leahy said.

According to USDA, organic labeling requirements include no genetic engineering, ionizing radiation and sewage sludge.