USDA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released its report (“Oversight of the National Organic Program”) of an audit it conducted on how USDA administers the National Organic Program (NOP). The audit was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Agricultural Marketing Service’s corrective actions implemented in response to an OIG audit of NOP conducted in July 2005. OIG also conducted the current audit because of the size and growth of the organic industry as well as the public’s increased interest in purchasing organic products.
In 2008, the organic industry had sales of $24.6 billion and grew between 14-21 percent annually over the past decade. NOP, created in October 2002, has the responsibility to assure consumers that organic products meet uniform standards and that they are appropriately labeled. Program regulations require that agricultural products labeled as organic originate from farms or handling operations certified by a state or private entity that has been accredited by the USDA.
OIG issued 14 recommendations to NOP officials to improve administration and internal controls. OIG recommended:
- NOP strengthen its enforcement procedures to determine what actions should be imposed on program violators, including civil penalties, and to timely issue the appropriate actions.
- NOP officials resolve and track complaints from receipt through disposition in a timely manner.
- NOP implement a plan for achieving compliance from California’s state organic program, obtain an Office of the General Counsel opinion on residue testing, and establish a mechanism for conducting annual evaluations of its accreditation process as required.
- Oversight of certifying agents and operations be strengthened to ensure that all onsite reviews of foreign certifying agents are performed, internal reviews are conducted more effectively and guidance is provided as necessary to improve overall program operations.