National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Decision Today on
"Organic" Fish
Sets Dangerous Precedent to Gut USDA Organic Program
WASHINGTON—Consumers Union today derided the National Organic Standards Board
(NOSB) decision to accept the recommendations for "organic" fish
production that will allow fish to carry the USDA organic label—despite being
raised under conditions that fail to meet fundamental USDA organic principles.
The NOSB recommendations allow:
· Fish to be fed food other
than 100% organic feed—the gold standard that must be met by other
USDA-certified organic livestock;
· Fishmeal used to feed
farmed fish from wild fish—which has the potential to carry mercury and
PCBs; and
· Open net cages to be used—which
flush pollution, disease and parasites from open net fish farms directly into
the ocean, adversely impacting wild fish supply, sustainability and the health
of the oceans.
The recommendations have been transmitted to USDA, which will issue an Advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANRP) immediately.
"To slap a 'organic' label on this fish is deceptive and undermines the
entire organic program," said Urvashi Rangan, PhD, Senior Scientist and
Policy Analyst at Consumers Union.
"If enacted, this gutting of the organic standards will not only allow
sub-par organic fish to be sold with a premium, but will undermine consumer
confidence in the entire organic marketplace."
Furthermore, it was clear at the NOSB hearing that USDA advised NOSB to
circumvent the regulations to lower the organic standards bar for fish,
standards clearly not wanted by the American public. Just this week, a
Consumers Union Poll revealed that 93 percent of Americans think that fish
labeled as "organic" should be produced by 100 percent organic feed,
like all other organic animals. Nine in 10 consumers also agreed that
"organic" fish farms should be required to recover waste and not
pollute the environment and 57 percent are concerned about ocean pollution
caused by "organic" fish farms. Nearly 30,000 signatures have been
collected in favor of maintaining strong standards for the organic label for
fish.
Some members of the NOSB expressed that they were under pressure from the
aquaculture industry to push a substandard through, with the chair of the
Livestock Committee, Hue Karreman, claiming that he's trying to
"jumpstart" an industry by finding a middle ground. "The action
taken today by the NOSB illustrate their misunderstanding of their own mission
and underscores their willingness to let down the American consumer in favor of
industry," said Rangan. "The NOSB is not a marketing or promotional
agency. It is an agency designed to create and maintain strict standards that
meet consumer expectations."
The push to allow non-organic fishmeal—which can be contaminated with mercury
and PCBs and environmentally polluting production systems—organic feed and to
ensure that waste from farms does not pollute the surrounding environment. The
Board said that some "organic" fish that don't eat 100 percent
organic feed receive a "qualified organic" label—something entirely
out of line with the law and the goal of the organic program to provide a
consistent standard across products in the marketplace and to prevent any
adulteration of the USDA organic claim.
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Contacts:
Urvashi Rangan
646.594.0212-cell
Naomi Starkman
917.539.3924-cell
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