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 *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html