OMB Has Been Sitting on USDA Organic Aquaculture Standards for Nearly a Year
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Politico] By Jenny Hopkinson - August 16, 2016 Get that organic birthday cake ready! The Agriculture Department’s proposed organic aquaculture standards will hit one year under White House Office of Management and Budget review on Wednesday, double the time officials are supposed to take on the interagency review process.
If it’s ever released, the rule will set the first ever standards for the cultivation and production of organic fish and other seafood. Europe and Canada already have organic aquaculture standards, and some other groups have started offering their own standards as the USDA has floundered moving forward.
George Lockwood, who chaired an aquaculture taskforce for the National Organic Standards Board, tells MA he thinks the administration is leaning toward only allowing closed-loop systems, such as raising fish in land-based tanks, possibly overriding the recommendations from the NOSB.
To Read Full Story Login Below.