"USDA's Organic Enforcers Let Offenders Slide, Audit Says"

"The National Organic Program's failure to promptly follow through on investigations has allowed some companies to continue falsely advertising products as organic for years and let one company off the hook entirely, according to an audit released yesterday by the inspector general of the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Between 2006 and 2008, it took National Organic Program officials an average of 15 months to act on the five enforcement recommendations that came from USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. They never took action against one company accused of improperly selling mint using USDA's organic label, according to the audit, while another company kept marketing its products as organic after signing an agreement saying that it would stop."

Gabriel Nelson reports for Greenwire March 19, 2010.