Not so surprisingly, they have discovered gaps in regulation. Imagine that. Business was allowed to do whatever they wanted during the Bush years. Self-regulation and all that nonsense failed yet another industry. Glad to see they're serious about this.
Spot testing is required by a 1990 law that established the basis for national organic standards, but in a report released on Thursday by the office of Phyllis K. Fong, the inspector general of agriculture, investigators wrote that regulators never made sure the testing was being carried out.If companies made "organic" profits they ought to be hit with penalties that are equally expensive.
The report pointed to numerous shortcomings at the agriculture department’s National Organic Program, which regulates the industry, including poor oversight of some organic operations overseas and a lack of urgency in cracking down on marketers of bogus organic products.
The audit did not name growers or processors that marketed products falsely labeled organic or say where any such products had been sold.
