eOrganic author:
Jim Riddle, University of Minnesota
According to the National Organic Program (NOP) final rule (United States Department of Agriculture [USDA], 2000), in order to be labeled "organic," meat, milk and egg handling and processing operations must be certified. Organic products must not be commingled with non-organic products or come in contact with prohibited substances during handling or processing. All ingredients and other substances used in or on organic products during processing must appear in §205.605 or §205.606 of the National List. Records of all processing activities must be maintained.
Product labeling must be legal, which means that for interstate sales, meat labels must be pre-approved by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service, in addition to being approved by your certifier. Section 205.236(c) of the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations requires that organic livestock operations maintain records to preserve the identity of all organic livestock products. Typically, a lot number, date code, or facility code is applied to a product to allow the product to be tracked to the processing facility. For meat, the processor maintains records to track products back to the operation where the animal originated. Since dairy products are generally blended during processing, processing records connect a product to the farms where the milk originated, but not to a specific farm or animal.
Though its use is not mandatory, all operations certified by NOP-accredited certification agencies can use the "USDA Organic" seal on products that contain at least 95% organic content and meet all other applicable labeling requirements.
Citations and References
- Agricultural Marketing Service—National Organic Program [Online]. United States Department of Agriculture. Available at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/ (verified 20 March 2010).
- United States Department of Agriculture. 2000. National organic program: Final rule. Codified at 7 C.F.R., part 205. (Available online at: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=3f34f4c22f9aa8e6d9864cc2683cea02&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title07/7cfr205_main_02.tpl) (verified 8 Dec 2015).
- Food Safety and Inspection Service [Online]. United States Department of Agriculture. Available at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/ (verified 20 March 2010).
