Resources
Sample Inspection Forms
Most
Common Mistakes Made
by certified crop operators and/or certification applicants*
Nutritional
Value of Organic Foods [pdf]
Dancing
With Systems by Donella Meadows
[pdf] [MS
doc]
The Southern Organic Resource Guide, co-produced by IOIA and the National Center for Appropriate Technology, is available at www.attra.org
End
of the Internet?
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming
set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory
Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge
a fee for virtually everything we do online.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
John
Ikerd's Sustainable Capitalism Seminar
A seminar by John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University
of MO, on topics featured in his recent book "Sustainable Capitalism",
is available at http://www.media.cce.cornell.edu/hosts/agfoodcommunity/fap/IkerdLecture10.26.05.wmv
Business
Alternatives for Poultry Producers
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has published a new resource for farmers
who are thinking about starting or modifying a poultry operation.
Poultry Your Way is a free, 124-page book that provides an overview of poultry
production systems for meat and eggs, including Industrial Confinement; Traditional
Confinement and Semi-Confinement; Day-Range Pasture; Pasture with Daily Move
Pens; and Organic management. The guide also explores breed selection, marketing,
and processing alternatives. Print copies can be ordered by calling the Center
for Integrated Agricultural Systems at 608-262-5200. The book is also available
online at www.cias.wisc.edu/pdf/poultryway.pdf.
New
Guide to Northwest Farm Resources Available
The 2006 Farming Sourcebook for the Pacific Northwest is now available. The
goal of the sourcebook is to provide a one-stop guide to the most current
tools, resources, and information available with respect to certified and
sustainable agricultural production. It includes sections on marketing, certification
and labeling, management practices, water quality, soil health, pest management,
seeds and starts, farm energy, and more. See: http://media.sijournal.com/documents/FarmingSourcebook_2006.pdf,
(PDF / 3.6MB)
FDA
Releases Food CGMP Modernization Report
On November 2, 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a
report, authored by its Food Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) Modernization
Working Group, entitled "Food CGMP Modernization - A Focus on Food Safety."
Of primary significance, the report contains recommendations to revise the
food CGMP regulations to include new requirements for training, allergen controls,
Listeria monocytogenes control, written sanitation procedures, and maintenance
and inspection of records. In addition, the working group recommended that
FDA consider applying food CGMPs to establishments engaged in the harvesting,
storage, or distribution of raw agricultural commodities.
The report also advised FDA to seek comments on the scope of requirements
for training programs, allergen controls, raw fruits and
vegetables, written sanitation procedures for HACCP and CGMP programs, and
the use of time-temperature relationships to control microbial growth. The
attached memorandum
summarizes the report and evaluates each recommendation.
IFOAM In Action Newsletter #89, January 2006 [pdf format]
Centre
for Indian Knowledge Systems
CIKS is a non-governmental organization based in Chennai - India, working
in the areas of Organic Farming and Sustainable Agriculture. They offer a
variety of educational materials that are widely regarded as extremely useful
resources for the agricultural community.
Click
here to view their catalogue. You can order online via their website,
www.ciks.org/publications
2003 Certifier's Guide to the USDA National Organic Program | .doc |
NOSB
Recommendations for Accredited Certifying Agent Compliance Procedures
for Minor Noncompliances - Please NOTE: These are recommendations ONLY.
This has not been adopted or re-issued as NOP guidance. [pdf]
[Word
document]
Measuring Effluent: Clarification of Chlorine
Contact with Organic Food
About ISO
The
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental
organization established in 1947. As it is defined in their web page, ISO
is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 130 countries,
one from each country. Its mission is to promote the development of standardization
and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international
exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres
of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity.
There are a number of ISO guides, which concern the organic industry, from
accreditation, certification and inspection. The NOP refers to ISO Guide
61: General Requirements for Assessment and Accreditation of Certification/Registration
bodies, in the context of the USDA's accreditation activities. The ISO
Guide 65: General Requirements for bodies operating product certification
systems, is a broad based criterion that addresses policy for any type of
certification system. This guide so far is the most influential for organic
certification. Recently, ISO guide 17020 was mentioned as a criterion
for Inspection/verification organizations. Its relevance to IOIA is yet to
be determined.
Prior to December of 2000, the USDA was accrediting US certification agencies
to ISO 65. The NOP is now accrediting certification agencies operating in
the USA and foreign certification agencies selling products in the USA according
to 7CFR Part 205 and ISO guide 65.
In order to secure equivalency with the rest of the world, the US government
will have to establish agreements with others such as Japan and the EU. In
Canada, ISO 65 accreditation is required for all certification agencies. The
EU has been operating within these guides for quite some time.
Knowledge of the components included in the ISO Guide 65 is gaining importance
for organic inspectors who are now subject to the areas in the Guide addressing
field inspections, conflict of interest, and reporting. It is informative
regarding the structure of policy and its relationship with standards and
procedures. Listing any ISO training in the membership directory and resumes
may be beneficial to our future employment opportunities. Finally, many clients
and consumers have questions regarding the type of oversight governing the
industry, which we can answer, based on our understanding of ISO.
IOIA trainings cover all aspects of ISO as they relate to organic inspectors.
This is accomplished by stimulating debates on issues of conflict of interest,
consulting vs. inspecting, inspecting vs. auditing, and including speakers
from governmental, accreditation and foreign certification agencies. More
in depth training on ISO and quality systems auditing can be obtained from
the American Society for Quality (ASQ).
The North American Branch of ISO is handled by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) which can be reached on the web at www.ansi.org.
There are links there to ISO, which can be reached at www.iso.ch/.
In the USDA, ISO guide 65 accreditation is handled by the Agriculture Marketing
Service Meat Inspection Division, 202-720-1124.
Sample
Forms
These forms, which were originally created under a 1998 USDA-FSMIP funded
project of the IOIA and OCC, have been revised by Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford
with funds provided by John Deere's Go Organic project. The
forms are available to certifying agents to adopt, modify, or use to upgrade
existing forms. If the certifying agent offers additional certification services
for use of the certifying agent's logo or other label claim, and additional
information is needed to assess compliance, it is recommended that additional
questions be added as addenda or as separate forms, rather than by integrating
them into these forms.
Please be aware that the questionnaires are designed to be accompanied by field history sheets and field or farm maps. A field history sheet template is provided. Since the template is designed to capture information for crop years 1999-2002, you will need to revise the field history sheet on a yearly basis. The text boxes will expand as content is added. If some tables do not contain enough rows, rows can be added under the table feature of MS Word.
The Handling template is provided in an attempt to help bring consistency and simplicity to the complex task of certifying organic handling operations. In constructing the Handling Plan template, every effort has been made to address all handling and labeling requirements of the NOP Rule. The Template can also be used as a worksheet for processors, consultants, and educators to help prepare processing operations for organic certification. You will find that the forms contain numerous checkboxes. These are included so that applicants can avoid writing narrative descriptions of their practices. Of course, if a practice used by a handler is not included, then space is provided to enter applicable information. In some areas, there are questions about use of prohibited materials. While most operators would answer "no" to these questions, the questions are provided as a means of documenting that prohibited materials are not being used. Please note that the "Organic Product Profile" on page 10 is a fundamental document. An OPP needs to be completed for each product requested for certification. Without completed OPP's, the rest of the form doesn't function properly. As with the previously released Organic Farm Plan, each section shows the applicable rule citation numbers and includes a summary of the rule requirements. This adds to the length of the form, but serves a valuable educational function, helping applicants understand why the requested information is needed.
If
you find any errors in the forms, or if you have any comments about them,
please contact Jim Riddle.
Organic Farm Plan Questionnaire | Organic Farm Certification Update Questionnaire |
Organic Handling Plan Template | Field History Sheet |
There
are also Spanish language versions of 2 of these forms and a Spanish language
version of the IOIA Checklist - click here
for links
Most
Common Mistakes
Made by certified crop operators and/or certification applicants*
Compiled
by Jim Riddle
Certifier relations:
Non-approved inputs:
Record keeping:
Organic plan:
Commingling and contamination:
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