NOP Notice of Draft Guidance (NOP 5037)
BY USDA NOP | Jan 17, 2017
NOP notice of draft guidance for Calculating the Percentage of Organic Ingredients in Multi-ingredient Products (NOP 5037)
The NOP published a notice of draft guidance for "Calculating the Percentage of Organic Ingredients in Multi-Ingredient Products (NOP 5037)" in the Federal Register . Comments are due February 6th.
"Although the USDA organic regulations establish labeling categories for organic products based on the percentage of organic ingredients in the product, certifying agents have interpreted the requirements for calculating the percent of organic ingredients differently.
The draft guidance clarifies the standards for calculating organic percentages for finished products, including multi-ingredient products that contain ingredients that are actually composed of more than one ingredient.
The draft guidance, which will help farms, businesses, certifiers and other stakeholders to implement the USDA organic standards consistently, supersedes "NOP Policy Memo 11-9," dated October 31, 2011, which is now obsolete.
The draft guidance is available in the NOP Handbook, Section J, at the base of the table of contents. All are invited to provide comments before the deadline."
MOSA staff encourage you to comment. Please do so by following the National Organic Program instructions below.
ADDRESSES:
Submit written requests for hard copies of this draft guidance to Paul I. Lewis, Ph.D., Standards Division Director, National Organic Program (NOP), USDA-AMS-NOP, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Room 2646—So., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250-0268. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the draft guidance document.
You may submit comments on this draft guidance document by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Paul I. Lewis, Ph.D., Standards Division Director, National Organic Program, USDA-AMS-NOP, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Room 2646—So., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250-0268.
Instructions: Written comments responding to this request should be identified with the document number AMS-NOP-16-0085; NOP-16-06. You should clearly indicate your position and the reasons supporting your position. If you are suggesting changes to the draft guidance document, you should include recommended language changes, as appropriate, along with any relevant supporting documentation. AMS is specifically requesting that stakeholders comment and quantify any impacts that the guidance will have on certified operations. AMS is also requesting comments from accredited certifying agents on the policy related to the calculation of multi-ingredient ingredients. How is the industry currently calculating organic products that use organic ingredients that contain several ingredients? What are the sound and sensible approaches currently being used?
USDA intends to make available all comments, including names and addresses when provided, regardless of submission procedure used, on www.regulations.gov and at USDA, AMS, NOP, Room 2646—South building, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday (except official Federal holidays). Persons wanting to visit the USDA South building to view comments from the public to this notice are requested to make an appointment by calling (202) 720-3252.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paul I. Lewis, Ph.D., Standards Division Director, National Organic Program (NOP), USDA-AMS-NOP, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Room 2646—So., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250-0268; Telephone: (202) 720-3252; Fax: (202) 260-9151; Email: NOP.Guidance@ams.usda.gov; or visit the NOP Web site at: www.ams.usda.gov/nop.