Whole Foods and Chinese Organic

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: March 4, 2010 4:02:26 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Whole Foods and Chinese Organic

[Note:  This item comes from friend Scott McNeil.  DLH]

From: Scott McNeil <mcneil () globaldesktop com>
Date: March 1, 2010 10:24:17 PM PST
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Subject: Whole Foods and Chinese Organic

Hi Dewayne,

I spent a couple of hours tonight researching and writing the following email. You may find it interesting... :-)


Today I was sent a video of a news story on the American chain supermarket Whole Foods (NasdaqGS: WFMI). The story is a 
over a year old and is told in an urgent style typical of US news. Regardless, the content of the story is quite 
interesting. It is from the American TV station WJLA in Washington DC:

Whole Foods Market "Organic" food made in China
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y&sns=em>

I've some thoughts on the story I'd like to share with you, but first, what does does "Organic" mean? According to the 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):

Products labeled "organic" must consist of at least 95
percent organically produced ingredients (excluding
water and salt). Any remaining product ingredients
must consist of nonagricultural substances approved
on the National List including specific non-organically
produced agricultural products that are not
commercially available in organic form.

<http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004446&acct=nopgeninfo>

Whole Foods responded to the WJLA story on its website, stating that it indeed sources food from the People's Republic 
of China. It also states that it uses an outside vendor, QAI (Quality Assurance International) to certify and label its 
food products "Organic".

Most interesting is Whole Foods rather nebulous refutation of WJLA's charge that "QAI has not certified any products in 
China."  From the Whole Foods website:

"QAI's seal on our package means that our independent
certifier, QAI, has confirmed that we have sourced it
from a certified organic operation. QAI allows us to
place their seal on our label to show that they have
verified that the products have been certified."

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

FAIL!

The QAI website states:

"Our (international) staff specialists have expertise
in organic regulations established in the EU, Japan,
Canada and Latin America."

http://www.qai-inc.com

Regarding China, QAI states:

"While QAI does not have a presence in China, we rely
on our USDA ACA counterparts to uphold the requirements
of the NOP. Further, per Regulation NOP 202.501, QAI is
required to accept their certification documentation.
Therefore, consumers can trust that through the series
of accreditations and certifications that occur from
China to the United States, and from farm to fork,
organic integrity has been maintained."

www.qai-inc.com/pdfs/CF_06172008.pdf

For those unfamiliar:

* USDA ACA is a USDA Accredited Certifying Agent

* NOP is the USDA National Organic Program

What the above QAI statement means is, by legal agreement between the United States and the People's Republic of China, 
QAI must accept the word of any Chinese entity that has been granted USDA ACA status as fact.

FAIL!

So, what USDA ACA counterparts in the People's Republic of China does QAI rely on?

On the USDA's website is the document "Complete List of Foreign Accredited Certifying Agents" created 26 January 2010. 
This document lists no Accredited Certifying Agents in China. Not one.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5074487

Hmmm, that's interesting. QAI relies on Chinese USDA ACA agents that don't appear to exist.

FAIL!

But wait, there's more...

In the same QAI document listed above, QAI states:

"Regulation 7 CFR 205.670 does not require residue testing.
Products may be tested by a certification agency for
pesticide or GMO contamination issues in response to a
complaint and/or if there is "reason" to believe that
there are contamination issues."

This means that QAI is not obliged to test any food products originating from anywhere in the world before labeling 
them "Organic".

FAIL!

To recap:

1. Whole Foods sources food products from the People's Republic
of China

2. Whole Foods relies on QAI to determine if its food products
originating from the People's Republic of China are "Organic"

3. QAI has no presence in the People's Republic of China and
has not certified any products in China

4. Instead, QAI must accept food products certified by a Chinese
USDA ACA agent to be "Organic"

5. At this time (1 March 2010) the USDA does not list any ACA
agents in China

6. Regardless, QAI accepts food products from People's Republic
of China to be "Organic"

7. QAI doesn't need to test food products originating from the
People's Republic of China or anywhere else before labeling
them "Organic"

8. FAIL!


Scott
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