IWLA Comments on Organics Enforcement Proposal

Earlier this week, IWLA submitted written comments to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposed rule to strengthen the organics products supply chain. The proposal is intended to protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations.

In the comments, IWLA urged AMS to reconsider the proposed definition of Organic Importer of Record: “The operation responsible for accepting imported organic

products within the United States.”  IWLA asked what it means to “accept” a product or who this party would be. Without further clarification, this definition could unwittingly result in a 3rd party warehouse becoming the “Organic Importer of Record” for purposes of the organic program simply because an imported shipment is delivered to our warehouse after leaving the port of entry.

IWLA agreed with the proposed exemption from certification for “an operation that only stores, receives, and/or loads agricultural products, but does not process or alter such agricultural products.” AMS, however,  states “Storage operations claiming this exemption must not label/relabel, combine, split, containerize, pack/repack, treat, sort, open, enclose or otherwise alter the organic products they handle.”  IWLA commented that warehouses often receive imported product on large pallets. Yet, product arriving and leaving a warehouse does not necessarily consist of pallet in/pallet out. Instead, the palletized product may be stored until the owner of the product sends an order for a certain quantity of product to be shipped to a retail customer, such as a grocery store or other retailer. IWLA asked whether AMS intends that if a shipment out consists of half the cartons contained on a pallet, that will be considered to be “processing or altering” the product (even though the individual packaged product remains untouched inside a larger carton or box)? IWLA invited AMS to work with our industry to better understand our operations to determine where the “processing/altering” line should be drawn.