The Organic Trade Association plans to develop voluntary organic standards for personal care products in collaboration with NSF International, an independent non-profit group, with the expectation the standards eventually will receive national recognition, the trade group announced Aug. 16.

OTA is partnering with NSF to give the standards, outlining the requirements for organic label claims, more credibility. NSF's standards process has been accredited by the American National Standards Institute, and standards approved by that non-profit organization have been recognized and referenced by federal agencies, including FDA, OTA said.

The association anticipates the development process, which will include due process and public comment periods, will take about two years to complete.

The trade group will bring the organic expertise of its Personal Care Organic Standards Task Force to a joint committee formed by NSF, OTA said, noting the task force has been working to develop personal care standards since 2001, just after the USDA National Organic Program was announced (¹ Also see "National Organic Program" - HBW Insight, 8 January, 2001. In Brief).

Initially, the USDA rule appeared to suggest that personal care products could receive organic certification under the program, as long as the products continued to meet the regulatory requirements of FDA.

However, in a guidance document released in April outlining the scope of the program, personal care products, body care products, cosmetics, dietary supplements and OTC drugs were excluded from the rule, and categorized as product groups over which USDA does not have authority (² [A#02250190009], p. 8).

The guidance document was met with opposition from OTA, which argued personal care standards are needed to limit consumer confusion and assure the organic quality of products on the market. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a key supporter of the program, also stepped forward to support certification for these products to ensure the integrity of organic labeling.

The statement was later retracted after Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman ordered the guidance withdrawn pending a solution to some of the issues that had been raised (³ Also see "USDA Organic Guidance Excluding Cosmetics From Certification Retracted" - HBW Insight, 31 May, 2004., p. 5).

Nonetheless, OTA said it expects the USDA will eventually remove some nonfood items, including organic personal care products, from the scope of the program, and is therefore moving ahead to develop an American National Standard for organic personal care products with NSF.

"Numerous OTA member companies have worked hard and invested heavily in developing certified organic personal care products" based on USDA's original policy, the trade group stated.

"The April document, however, threatened the value of their investments, and forced renewed calls for a standard that offers assurance about the organic status of such products," the association added.

OTA will continue developing its own organic standards simultaneously. The trade group expects that standards development process will include the formation of draft standards to be reviewed by the Personal Care Task Force and OTA's Quality Assurance Committee, which comprises a broad representation including farmers, suppliers, manufacturers, certifiers and retailers.

Once completed, a revised set of standards will be made available to the public for comment. Ultimately, the final standards proposal will need to be approved by the group's board of directors before becoming OTA policy and a requirement for the trade association's 1,500 members.

The OTA task force has already agreed to one recommendation for the standards made by Aubrey Organics General Manager Curt Valva that essentially calls for the use of U.S. National Organic Program requirements for organic percentage calculations concerning water in multi-ingredient products.

The group has also agreed "to take a cautious approach on ingredient calculations for hydrosols until the composition of hydrosols is identified and calculated."

A meeting will be held Sept. 23 at NSF's headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. to discuss the initial requirements for the proposed standards.

Organic Personal Care Standards To Be Developed By OTA/NSF

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