The Agriculture Department is preparing to write rules on whether meat from cloned animals can be considered organic and is calling on the organic food industry to refine its positions on the issue.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Services Bruce Knight told the Organic Trade Association late last week that while many organic-agriculture leaders oppose classification of meat from cloned animals as organic, he must start the process of writing an organic cloning rule because the FDA recently ruled that meat from cloned animals is safe.
Knight said that the main issue for the organic food industry is not the meat from a cloned animal, but the meat from future generations from that animal.
"You have to wrestle with what to do with progeny," Knight told the group, which is composed of all segments of the industry, from farmers to retailers.
The industry, he said, needs to decide what generation of cloned animals could be considered producers of organic meat. The organic food industry has so far opposed classification of meat from any cloned animals as organic.
Knight said the most important proposal for organic agriculture in the farm bill is to require USDA to keep track of supply, demand and prices for organic products.
Knight said the National Organic Program at USDA has been overwhelmed by Freedom of Information Act requests from producers and that he plans to put as much information about the National Organic Program as possible on the USDA Agricultural Marketing service Web site.
House Agriculture Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., told the group the industry might need tighter regulations and more surveillance to maintain their customers' trust. Cardoza said there would be limited government funds for that purpose and that organic farmers and others in the industry may have "to tax themselves" to keep standards high. By Jerry HagstromNational Journal's CongressDaily
