WASHINGTON DC (October 19, 2019) — On October 18, 2019, the Department of Agriculture published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to amend the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) based on public input and the October 2018 recommendations from the National Organic Standards Board.
This proposed rule would:
- Allow blood meal made with sodium citrate to be used as a soil amendment.
- Prohibit the use of natamycin in organic crop production.
- Allow tamarind seed gum to be used as a nonorganic ingredient in organic handling when an organic form is not commercially available.
The USDA welcomes comments on the proposed amendments. The 60-day comment period will close on December 17, 2019.
About the National List
More information on the National List, including how and why substances are added or removed from it, is available on The National List page.
Comment Period Open on NOP Information Collection Requirements
Reporting and recordkeeping are critical elements of an effective certification system.
The NOP and certifiers gather many types of information to effectively oversee the USDA organic regulations. For example, certifiers collect organic system plans from farms and businesses and report on certification and enforcement activities to the NOP.
As a Federal program, the NOP must request permission from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to require reporting and to track how long these reporting activities — called information collections — take. Information collections help NOP to maintain sound and sensible recordkeeping requirements that support risk-based enforcement of the organic regulations, while minimizing the regulatory burden on certifiers and certified farms and businesses.
On October 17, NOP published a document in the Federal Register announcing its intent to request an extension of the currently approved information collection reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
The Federal Register Notice describes the reporting and recordkeeping burden associated with NOP activities and requests comments on the estimated information collection burden. The current OMB approval expires on January 31, 2020. The 60-day comment period will close on December 16, 2019.
