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By Alliance for Natural Health,
We thought the problem was limited to fraudulent overseas suppliers; but fake organics are also grown in the US, and the USDA is clueless. Action Alert!
A Missouri farmer has been charged with ripping off food companies and consumers by falsely marketing more than $140 million worth of corn, soybeans, and wheat as organic.
Observers have called the scale of this fraud “jaw dropping” and likely the largest case of its kind involving US farmers.
The level of deception in the organic industry has reached epidemic proportions: a USDA study found that 40% of all organic food sold in the US tested positive for prohibited pesticides.
This is an outrage, but the USDA shows no signs of deviating from business as usual.
The long-running scheme started as far back as 2004, when the Missouri man, Randy Constant, allegedly recruited three Nebraska farmers to supply him with crops. The Nebraska farmers turned a blind eye to Constant’s false marketing because of the premium prices their crops were fetching. The Nebraska farmers pleaded guilty last October.
This episode highlights what we’ve been saying for months now: the USDA, who is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the organic label, is absolutely inept.
First, we had fake organics flooding in from overseas. We were told the problem was with foreign certifiers and that more oversight over the supply chain would reduce the fraud.
We thought the problem was limited to fraudulent overseas suppliers; but fake organics are also grown in the US, and the USDA is clueless. Action Alert!
A Missouri farmer has been charged with ripping off food companies and consumers by falsely marketing more than $140 million worth of corn, soybeans, and wheat as organic.
Observers have called the scale of this fraud “jaw dropping” and likely the largest case of its kind involving US farmers.
The level of deception in the organic industry has reached epidemic proportions: a USDA study found that 40% of all organic food sold in the US tested positive for prohibited pesticides.
This is an outrage, but the USDA shows no signs of deviating from business as usual.
The long-running scheme started as far back as 2004, when the Missouri man, Randy Constant, allegedly recruited three Nebraska farmers to supply him with crops. The Nebraska farmers turned a blind eye to Constant’s false marketing because of the premium prices their crops were fetching. The Nebraska farmers pleaded guilty last October.
This episode highlights what we’ve been saying for months now: the USDA, who is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the organic label, is absolutely inept.
First, we had fake organics flooding in from overseas. We were told the problem was with foreign certifiers and that more oversight over the supply chain would reduce the fraud.