Widespread Fraud Uncovered in U.S. Organic Grain Imports
An investigation conducted by the Washington Post uncovered widespread fraud associated with U.S. imports of organic grain - finding that massive grain shipments from China and Eastern Europe that were labeled as organic, weren’t.
These findings have led The Cornucopia Institute, the foremost organic industry watchdog, to reiterate their call upon U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to step up measures to correct gross negligence and corruption at the National Organic Program (NOP).
The NOP oversees 150 independent global agencies tasked with carrying out inspections, and its accreditation program is key to eliminating the conflict of interest that could arise from businesses hiring their own certifiers.
The Cornucopia Institute has already filed many legal complaints asking the USDA to investigate a range of infractions on behalf of organic factory farms and industry players, but all too often these filings are have been dismissed. Now, the Institute has updated an outstanding complaint regarding alleged corruption at the NOP following the surfacing of findings by The Washington Post.
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