USDA to Start Over on Organic Food Rules

Under a deluge of 200,000 angry letters, the Agriculture Department will scrap proposals that would have allowed organic food to contain sewage sludge or bioengineered material, congressional and industry sources said. Opponents ranging from singer Willie Nelson to a bipartisan group of 48 members of Congress had joined organic farmers in attacking the controversial proposals. USDA is expected to announce today that it will start over in setting organic food labeling standards. “They plan to re-propose the organic rules for another round of public comment,” said one industry official. USDA is now expected to indicate that, while it considers irradiation, genetically modified material and sewage sludge to be safe, they are not appropriate for foods labeled “organic,” the sources said. The department had issued its proposals last winter after years of pleading by the fast-growing organic industry. But farmers protested that the proposed rules favored large agribusinesses.