Farmed Raised Fish = Organic?

The National Organics Standards Board, part of the USDA, yesterday approved criteria that would allow for farmed raised fish to qualify for an “organic label.” From the Washington Post:

The question of whether farmed fish could be labeled organic -- especially carnivorous species such as salmon that live in open-ocean net pens and consume vast amounts of smaller fish -- has vexed scientists and federal regulators for years. The standards approved yesterday by the National Organic Standards Board would allow organic fish farmers to use wild fish as part of their feed mix provided it did not exceed 25 percent of the total and did not come from forage species, such as menhaden, that have declined sharply as the demand for farmed fish has skyrocketed.

Some food safety advocates were angry at this decision (which serves as a recommendation for USDA regulations), and understandably so:

Activists questioned why up to 25 percent of fish feed could be made up of non-organic material, while all other animals certified as organic must eat 100 percent organic feed. They also noted that open-net pens can harm the environment by allowing fish waste and disease to pollute the ocean.

It’s an obvious double-standard that doesn’t really need to be in place. Allowing this new label to proceed would lower the effectiveness and honestly of the organic label as it stands now. Hopefully, this issue isn't going away. (Also covered by the St. Louis Post- Dispatch)

-- Dylan Blaylock  

Comments

[Liz Perry]

While appreciating the bureaucratic struggle to devise clarity.....would it not be easier to require "organic" to mean "organic"? Now we have to have some new standards: "almost organic" or "partially organic" or "contaminated organic" or "do you trust this business to adhere to 25% polluted organic standard as devised by some idiot bureaucrat who is on full salary, has a great retirement package and has lost total contact with reality"?? What this translates to for our household is that we will now stop buying ALL fish. Great work, boys!