USDA Certified Organic means that the producer has paid a private company to certify the products. 


> Effective immediately, certifying agents are obliged to report violations of health or safety to the 
appropriate local, State, or Federal officials. A copy of all such reporting shall be forwarded to the 
National Organic Program (NOP) in care of the NOP Compliance and Enforcement Branch (CEB). 
Further, organic certification shall not be granted or continued when current health or safety 
inspections have not been granted or renewed for the facility.

> While we do not expect organic inspectors to be able to detect salmonella or other pathogens, their 
potential sources should be obvious from such evidence as bird, rodent, and other animal feces or 
other pest infestations.

Reporting Health & Safety Violations
Barbara C. Robinson, Acting Director
National Organic Program
February 25, 2009

* * *

> With government inspectors overwhelmed by the task of guarding the nation’s food supply, the job 
of monitoring food plants has in large part fallen to an army of private auditors. Both the food 
industry and federal officials say they are aware of the problems with third-party audits. Nonetheless, 
the F.D.A. has proposed expanding the role of private auditors to inspect the more than 200,000 
foreign facilities that ship food to the United States. The agency has proposed a voluntary certification 
program that would toughen audit standards and alert federal authorities of problems — an idea that 
has met stiff resistance from the food industry. 

> “The contributions of third-party audits to food safety is the same as the contribution of mail-order 
diploma mills to education,” said Mansour Samadpour, a Seattle consultant who has worked with 
companies nationwide to improve food safety.

Food Safety Problems Slip Past Private Inspectors
By MICHAEL MOSS and ANDREW MARTIN
Published: March 5, 2009  NY Times

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