It's about time a major player did something about the "organic" claims that are running rampant in the personal care product industry. According to Earth911, Whole Foods Market recently announced that to be sold in its stores, a personal care product making organic claims must be 3rd party certifed.
“There is no regulatory authority over personal care products that is enforcing organic claims right now,” says Joe Dickson, quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Market. “So, it’s really buyer-beware out there.”
Many personal care items such as skincare, lotion, shampoo, and makeup are may indeed to be on par with USDA organic standards, but the USDA itself has no authority to regulate such products that are labeled "organic" but are not certified.
What does that mean?
As Earth911 quite simply states, "In other words, the manufacturer of a can of tomato soup labeled “organic” is subject to Federal enforcement if their product isn’t certified or contains non-organic ingredients. A conditioner bottle with the same label is not required to be USDA certified, and there are no regulatory standards that require the manufacturer to use only organic ingredients."
Sadly, a staggering percentage of consumers have no knowledge as to the loophole that the personal care industry falls into.
As far as Whole Foods is concerned, their new guidline will require any product labeled as "organic" to be certified to the USDA NOP standard or contain at least 95% organic ingredients. In the case of the latter, organic ingredients listed on the back label must also satisfy USDA standards.
Products claiming to be “made with organic ingredients” must meet the NOP standard for Made with Organic, which requires 70 percent organic products and strictly regulates what makes up the remaining 30 percent.
Buyer beware – going green is big business and it is sometimes unfortunately the consumer that gets the short end of the stick.
Source: Earth911
Image Source: Syracuse.com
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