Originally published February 17 2011
Exposed: Fake Chinese organics try to slip into US market
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) There seems to be no shortage of fraud coming out of China these days, with a recent report issued by the non-profit Cornucopia Institute (CI) stating that a certain Chinese agricultural supplier has attempted to export fake organic products into the U.S. The report states that the supplier forged fake organic certification documents in an effort to capitalize on the large and growing U.S. market for organic products.
According to the report, the Chinese agricultural marketer attempted to sneak non-organic products into the U.S. using fake certifications that appeared to be issued by the National Organic Program (NOP), the official USDA certification standard for organics. The supplier also forged the name of a French USDA accredited certifying agency in the documents as well.
"Unfortunately, this incident ... serves as a stark reminder that imports from China are fraught with peril," said Mark A. Kastel, co-director of CI. Charlotte Vallaeys, lead author of the report, added that the incident "illustrates why so many responsible processors and marketers in the organic industry shun organic imports."
The announcement comes at the same time as another recent media report has been issued concerning Chinese companies mass producing and selling fake, plastic rice (http://www.naturalnews.com/031344_plastic_ri...). And this is all on top of numerous other Chinese cases of melamine contamination of food, fake drugs, and toxic farmed fish that have all made headlines in recent years.
Many are urging the USDA to take a more active approach in ensuring that anything coming from China, especially food products that are supposedly organic, be fully inspected and regulated. Some are even calling for an immediate moratorium on all organic imports from China.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.cornucopia.org/2011/02/usda-uncov...
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