US: price suspicions prompt organic food concerns

Farmers and butchers across the country will face greater scrutiny in the wake of claims that some may be cashing in by selling ordinary meat as higher-priced organic produce. The Soil Association, which certifies and inspects organic food producers and suppliers, said it was writing to all its licensees to remind them of their responsibilities. It was also considering appointing a "roving inspector" to look at the trade in organic produce outside the licensees.

The moves came a day ahead of the broadcast of an ITV West Eye View television programme which alleges that a Soil Association licensee sold a product as organic despite not having the appropriate certification to do so. In a statement, the Soil Association said it welcomed the programme's investigation, but described its current regime of inspections of licensees as "rigorous". The Association said it also provides Trading Standards officers with training so they can identify non-compliance with organic standards.

David Pickering, a joint lead food officer at the Trading Standards Institute, told Reuters he was not convinced however that the problem was sufficient to justify extra officer time. "Organic food demand has risen very fast over the past four years," he said. "Unlike other products for which demand booms, you can't simply just go out and grow more organic Brussels sprouts, for example. "My gut instinct is that there is potentially a problem out there but in terms of justifying officer time to inspect it, I'm not sure."

Pickering added that despite fears that some unscrupulous traders might try to pass off ordinary food as organic, there have been few proven cases so far. Trading Standards successfully prosecuted two butchers in Richmond-upon-Thames, last year. And the Soil Association itself said it had terminated the certification of seven licensees over the past year, out of 14 cases of licensees it investigated for apparent or actual breaches of their licence requirements and organic regulations.

Pickering said: "We don't come up against much of it. The issue keeps popping up with isolated instances but that's all. "We are trying to do some research into what the scale of the problem is. We don't really know how serious it is, to be honest. He noted the difficulty of simply telling which was which by appearance. "We might say that organic fruit might not be as blemish-free as non-organic but that's not a good enough guide for consumers to tell." Trading Standards is producing a new guide to help its officers investigate possible regulation breaches.

They will also have access later this year to a new diagnostic test which detects levels of antibiotics in meat. Developed by the Food Standards Agency, it looks for levels of tetracycline, a generic antibiotic used to treat pigs and chickens. An FSA spokesman said inspectors currently rely on examining paper records. He added: "At the moment paperwork checking is what mostly happens but this test will verify the frequency of dosage of antibiotics in meat. If it's over a certain amount, the meat will not be organic."

Source