fox guarding the henhouse? oil companies writing the energy policy? halliburton writing the iraq war policy? jeebus.


original

USDA Appoints a General Mills Bureaucrat as "Consumer Representative" to the National Organic Standards Board

Web Note: The USDA has appointed a General Mills bureaucrat as "Consumer
Representative" to the National Organic Standards Board, rejecting nominees
from the organic community who stood up against the recent Sneak Attack in
Congress. General Mills officially supported the controversial rider to the
2006 Agricultural Appropraitions bill that reduced organic community control
and review over organic standards. USDA also appointed a director from the
organic certification corporation, QAI, Joe Smillie, who is a long-time
member of the Organic Trade Association leadership clique that rammed
through the Sneak Attack. The appointment of these "Sneak Attack" lapdogs
make it clear that the organic community will have to step up the pressure
on both the USDA and an increasingly pro-corporate agribusiness NOSB if we
are to maintain strict organic standards.

National organics board welcomes six new members

The National Organic Standards Board got its first executive director and
welcomed new certifier, consumer and producer members this week.

By Greg Bowman

Posted December 8, 2005 The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) got its
first executive director and welcomed six new members this week.

Valerie Frances, who has served as certification director and marketing
coordinator at the Maryland Department of Agriculture, will begin work in
late January. She will facilitate the work of the NOSB, including handling
its recommendations to the secretary of the USDA.

Jim Riddle, immediate past chair of the NOSB, said of Frances, "I believe
that Valerie understands the importance of the NOSB serving as the pulse of
the organic community and as a gatekeeper for organic integrity and consumer
confidence. I am confident that Valerie will do a good job in her new
position."

Riddle, founding chair of the Independent Organic Inspectors Association
(IOIA), is leaving the board this month at the end of his term. He noted the
NOSB spearheaded work over the past three years to define the executive
director job description and secure funding for it.

Starting five-year terms to replace persons whose terms have expired are:
certifier member Joseph Smillie; consumer/public interest members Daniel
Giacomini, Jennifer Hall and Katrina Heinze; and producer members Kevin
Engelbert and Jeffrey Moyer.

Giacomini is an independent dairy nutrition consultant from Middletown,
California. Hall, an advocate for anti-hunger policies, is also an organic
consultant to Seattle restaurants. Heinze is the manager of global
regulatory affairs for General Mills of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is
responsible for food safety and regulatory matters. Engelbert, from Nichols,
New York, is a fifth-generation crop and dairy farmer. Moyer is the farm
manager at The Rodale Institute® in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Smillie, of
South Burlington, Vermont, is senior vice president with Quality Assurance
International, a USDA-accredited certifying agent that operates globally to
certify organic operations to National Organic Program (NOP) standards.

The board's membership is designed to span the many interests within the
organic food and farming sector. It is authorized by law to make
recommendations to the "national list" of allowed and prohibited substances,
the document used for certification inspections throughout organic
production, processing and packaging systems. The board may also provide
advice on other aspects of the organic program, such as the current dialogue
on enforcement of access to pasture matters.

The NOSB has 15 members representing all the various interests of organic
producers and consumers (four producers, two handlers, one retailer, three
environmentalists, three consumers, one scientist, and one certifying
agent).