The US National Organic Standards Board has voted for tougher policing on the use of the term ‘organic’ on personal care and beauty products, reports Natural Foods Merchandiser.
The government-appointed Board is recommending that organic personal care products be recognized explicitly by the USDA’s National Organic Program, just as food and other organic ingredients are, to help end the problem of mislabeled personal care products and the resulting confusion among consumers.
The move follows growing pressure from groups such as the Organic Consumer Association and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified brands such as Dr Bronner‘s Magic Soaps.
They say consumers currently have to negotiate a “thicket of competing private standards” which often lack regulatory underpinning.
David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s, commented: “High-quality high-performance personal care is being produced and certified right and left right now under the NOP by organic companies of integrity, who support organic agriculture and farming with the integrity the federal NOP ensures. Only by making the NOP rules mandatory for cosmetic and personal care products can consumers be adequately protected from the misleading and deceptive labeling practices currently prevalent in the marketplace.”
