This is a problem that keeps coming up ? food being sold as ?organic?, which in truth, is not.
From Cornucopia.org
Organic Industry Watchdog Says ?System Working as Designed, Albeit Too Slowly?
CORNUCOPIA, WI?? Jirah Milling and Sales, based in Quebec, Canada, has had their organic certification suspended by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).?The company, annually selling thousands of metric tonnes of organic feed soybeans and grains in U.S. markets, had been under scrutiny for some time. Organic soybean growers, and other crop producers, on both sides of the border had been questioning how Jirah could apparently sell organic beans significantly below what they knew to be the cost of production.
?We have been aware of problems with imported soybeans for years and have been actively investigating this operation for many months,? said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at?The Cornucopia Institute. ?It was obvious, from collaborating with U.S. organic grain producers, and their cooperative leaders, that something was wrong,? Kastel added.
Michael Saumur, the National Manager of the Canadian Organic Office at CFIA, said they had received two formal complaints about Jirah?s operations. Jirah then received ?multiple assessments,? he said. The assessments revealed what Saumur would only term as ?deviations? from the company?s organic plan. Jirah, Saumur explained, was ?given ample opportunity to correct? the deviations. Unable to do so, Saumur said ?it was deemed applicable to issue a suspension.?
While Saumur expressed the need to maintain confidentiality about specifics, one complaint concerning Jirah, filed in November 2010, alleges blending of cheaper conventional grains with organic and then the sale of the adulterated product as certified organic feed.
Jack Erisman, an organic crop producer in Pana, Ill., reported that ?Even with growing demand from organic egg and dairy producers, over the past two years, I have had soybeans that I could not sell in the marketplace.?
Cornucopia?s investigation brought the group in contact with Canadian farmers familiar with Jirah. ?The Canadian farmers? allegations, reported to us, were that Jirah was buying a nominal quantity of legitimate organic soybeans but the vast majority of their beans came from conventional IP [identity preserved], GMO-free growers,? Kastel said. ?These Canadian growers are the real heroes; they brought this apparent fraud to the attention of Canadian regulators and Cornucopia and tirelessly pushed for action,? observed Kastel.
Cornucopia said that none of the Canadian farmers that they had directly worked with on this investigation were willing to speak on the record due to fear of recrimination or violence. ?We had one incident, related to the investigation, reported to us concerning the vandalism of an automobile to the tune of many thousands of dollars,? said Kastel.
?Buyers should know,? said Merle Kramer of Saline, Mich., Marketing Director at the Midwest Organic Farmers Cooperative, ?that when we are in a $24.00 organic soybean market and they get four bids for around $24.00 and one bid for $19.75, it should be obvious that those are not organic soybeans. Unfortunately, for some the main concern is to get cheap organic grains and a piece of paper that says it is organic.?
The Cornucopia Institute PO Box 126 Cornucopia, WI 54827?www.cornucopia.org
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