Sen. Baldwin Introduces Bill to Fight Fake Organic Imports

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced a bill meant to prevent "imports of fraudulent organic products that undercut American farmers," she said in a news release. The Organic Farmer and Consumer Protection Act would require that all National Organic Program Import Certificates include information on "the organic standard to which the agricultural product is certified," among other things. The bill would also require the Agriculture Secretary to create a system to track organic import certificates, which may be added "into any existing information tracking systems for imports of agricultural products." The Agriculture Department would also have to publicly release "detailed quantitative data on imports of organically produced agricultural products accepted
into" the U.S.. The legislation also calls for information sharing between ACE and the Hypomania Certificate Issuance and Tracking System of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The bill follows industry concerns and press reports related to cheap imports improperly labeled as organic (see 1705150031).