1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Room 2648-S, STOP 0268

Washington, D.C. 20250-0268

REVOCATION OF CERTIFICATION

June 1, 2017 Via Registered Email

Goksal Beyaz,

Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S.

Budak Mah 10031 Nolu Sok No 42 Yasem Is 

Merkezi Kat 10 D 1016 1017 Sehitkamil 

Gaziantep, Turkey

goksal.beyaz@beyazagro.com

Dear Mr. Beyaz:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) 

enforces the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, as amended (7 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6522) 

(OFPA), and its implementing regulations at 7 C.F.R. part 205 Section 2106(a)(1)(B) of the 

OFPA (7 U.S.C. § 6505(a)(1)(B)) states that “no person may affix a label to, or provide other 

market information concerning, an agricultural product if such label or information implies, 

directly or indirectly, that such product is produced or handled using organic methods, except in 

accordance with [the OFPA].” The OFPA further requires that, to be sold or labeled as organic, 

an agricultural product must be produced only on certified organic farms. In addition, section 

205.105(a) of the USDA organic regulations (7 C.F.R. § 205.105(a)) states that products sold as 

organic must be produced and handled without the use of synthetic substances prohibited by the 

regulations. 

Because Beyaz Agro has not appealed the April 28, 2017 Notice of Noncompliance and 

Proposed Revocation, Beyaz Agro’s organic certification is revoked.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The NOP received complaints that non-organic grains and oilseeds are being imported from 

Turkey and fraudulently sold as organic in the United States. In the course of investigating these 

complaints, the NOP identified violations of the USDA organic regulations involving soybean 

shipments managed by Beyaz Agro, a certified organic grain and oilseed handling operation, and 

two related entities: Hakan Organics based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Agropex, based 

in Broadway, Virginia. This investigation related to a shipment of 16,250 metric tons of 

soybeans, which arrived in the United States aboard the M/V “Four Diamond” on November 12, 

2016. The soybeans had been previously exported from Ukraine to Turkey and were then reexported from Turkey to the United States. However, before leaving Ukraine, the soybeans had 
Revocation of USDA Organic Certification, Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S. Page 2

been fumigated with aluminum phosphide. Aluminum phosphide is a prohibited substance under 

the USDA organic regulations. Upon arrival in the United States, the fumigated soybeans were 

sold as USDA organic. This action violated the OFPA and the USDA organic regulations. 

USDA NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS

The NOP investigation revealed that Beyaz Agro and its CEO, Goksal Beyaz who also serves as 

the General Coordinator1 for Hakan Organics and acts on its behalf, violated the OFPA by 

selling fumigated soybeans from Ukraine in the United States while representing them as 

organically produced and handled. 

Hakan Organics, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, imported four shipments of 

soybeans from Ukraine to Turkey under four phytosanitary certificates issued by the State 

Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine. These phytosanitary certificates do not 

indicate that the soybeans were organically produced, but they do show that the soybeans were 

fumigated with aluminum phosphide prior to entering Turkey. Hakan Organics stored the 

soybeans at its warehouses in Turkey and the four shipments of soybeans were consolidated into 

a single shipment, under a single Turkish phytosanitary certificate, that referenced the original 

four Ukrainian phytosanitary certificates.

Beyaz Agro, in Turkey, applied to accredited certifying agent Kiwa-BCS for organic transaction 

certificates. However, Beyaz Agro gave Kiwa-BCS false information about the soybeans. 

Specifically, it provided two certificates of inspection that were issued by bio.Inspecta AG, a 

USDA-accredited certifier, which identified Russia as the country of dispatch for 26,243,840 KG 

of organic soybeans. The application for an organic transaction certificate also included 

commercial invoices, bills of lading, and marine survey certificates that identify 16,250,000 KG 

of organic soybeans in bulk to be shipped to the United States in three holds aboard the vessel 

M/V Four Diamond. Beyaz Agro copied Goksal Beyaz and Hakan Organics Import/Export 

Specialist Mustafa Patpat on the application request. Based on this false information, Kiwa-BCS 

issued Beyaz Agro three organic transaction certificates, which listed the soybeans as organic. 

Beyaz Agro used these certificates to re-export the Ukrainian soybeans to the United States as 

organic soybeans.

Beyaz Agro nominally sold the soybeans to Hakan Organics affiliate Agropex and gave it the 

three organic transaction certificates issued by Kiwa-BCS. It also gave Agropex copies of the 

same commercial invoices, bills of lading, and marine survey certificates that it used in the 

application to Kiwa-BCS, but this version of the documents identified the soybeans as non-GMO 

not organic. The soybeans were shipped to the United States on the M/V Four Diamond.

Agropex stored the soybeans with Penny Newman Grain Company in Stockton, CA, a certified 

organic handler. Agropex represented to sales agent Global Natural LLC that the soybeans were 

organic. Under a contract with Hakan Organics and signed by Goksal Beyaz, Global Natural

 1 As evidenced by business cards provided by the Hakan Organics DMCC booth to USDA NOP personnel at the 

BioFach trade show in Nuremberg, Germany in February 2017
Revocation of USDA Organic Certification, Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S. Page 3 

arranged the sale of the soybeans to certified organic handlers in the United States for 

$ (US Dollars). 

NOP investigators subsequently obtained the commercial invoices, bills of lading, and marine 

survey certificates associated with these soybeans from Agropex and found discrepancies 

between Agropex’s documents and those that Beyaz Agro provided to Kiwa-BCS, suggesting 

that these documents had been altered.

Through the phytosanitary certificates issued by Ukraine and Turkish authorities, the records of 

the certifying agent, and the records of Agropex, the NOP was able to positively trace the 

fumigated soybeans, which Agropex sold and represented as organic in the United States, to the 

fumigated soybeans purchased by Hakan Organics in Ukraine and re-exported through Turkey. 

VIOLATIONS OF THE OFPA AND USDA ORGANIC REGULATIONS 

Details of the regulatory violations are as follows. 

1. Beyaz Agro sold soybeans treated with prohibited substances as organic, in violation of 7 

C.F.R. § 205.272 

7 C.F.R. §205.272: The handler of an organic handling operation must implement measures 

necessary to ... protect organic products from contact with prohibited substances.

Between March and October, 2016, Hakan Organics imported soybeans in bulk into Turkey 

from four exporters in Ukraine, as demonstrated in four Ukrainian phytosanitary certificates:

75/15-036/BX-500973 (31 March 2016); 75/14-040/BX-083763 (08 May 2016); 75/15-

010/BX-468423 (04 May 2016); and 60/15-6054/XX-181135 (08 October 2016). The 

Ukrainian phytosanitary certificates show that each of the four shipments of soybeans was 

fumigated with aluminum phosphide, a prohibited substance under the USDA organic 

regulations. The phytosanitary certificates clearly identified Ukraine as the country of origin 

for the soybeans. Hakan Organics was identified on the phytosanitary certificates as the 

consignee in Turkey and therefore is a responsible, notified party. 

In preparation for re-export, the soybeans in bulk from the four shipments were consolidated 

under one phytosanitary certificate issued by the Turkish authorities, No: EC/TR B 0140061 

dated October 27, 2016. Block 10 of Turkish certificate EC/TR B 0140061 referenced the 

four phytosanitary certificates issued by Ukraine. The four loads of bulk soybeans were then 

consolidated and re-exported in a single shipment aboard bulk carrier M/V “Four Diamond” 

in Holds 1, 3, and 5. The soybeans in each hold were shipped under phytosanitary 

certificates, No: 0140369, No: 0140368, and No: 0140367 respectively. Each of these 

phytosanitary certificates had an attachment that linked the certificate to the preceding 

certificate "This phytosanitary certificate is issued instead of phytosanitary certificate No: 

EC/TR B 0140061." The Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock has 

confirmed that the Ukrainian phytosanitary certificates are for the same loads of soybeans as 

(b) (4)
Revocation of USDA Organic Certification, Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S. Page 4

the Turkish certificates. The State Services of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer 

Protection has confirmed it issued the four Ukraine phytosanitary certificates and that the 

certificates are valid.

2. In applying for an Organic Transaction Certificate, Goksal Beyaz and Beyaz Agro, acting for 

Hakan Organics, presented fraudulent information to an organic certifying agent of the 

USDA Secretary of Agriculture, in violation of section 2120 of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. § 

6519(c)(2)).

7 U.S.C. § 6519(c)(2): Any operation that makes a false statement under this chapter to the 

Secretary, a governing State official, or a certifying agent shall be punished in accordance 

with section 1001 of title 18. 

On November 12, 2016, Beyaz Agro, presented incomplete and false information to its 

organic certifying agent to obtain an organic transaction certificate for the load of fumigated 

Ukrainian soybeans to be shipped on M/V “Four Diamond.” Beyaz Agro emailed an 

application for the certificate to USDA-accredited certifying agent Kiwa-BCS and copied 

Goksal Beyaz and Hakan Organics Import/Export Specialist Mustafa Patpat on the request. 

Beyaz Agro requested the organic transaction certificate in order to provide documentation of 

the organic status of products for shipment to and sale in the United States. The application 

included two certificates (HR-023-16 and HR-024-16) of inspection for import of products 

from organic production that were issued by bio.Inspecta AG, a USDA-accredited certifier, 

which identified Russia as the country of dispatch for 26,243,840 KG of organic soybeans. 

The transaction certificate application also included commercial invoices, bills of lading, and 

marine survey certificates that identify 16,250,000 KG of organic soybeans in bulk to be 

shipped to the United States in three holds aboard the vessel M/V Four Diamond. The marine 

survey certificates sent to Kiwa-BCS in the application state: “organic soybeans” and had a 

“Farmer Code (Lot number) HRU-001, HRU-002”, which matched the inventory records 

showing the false Russian origin in the transaction certificate request. However, the

commercial invoices and bills of lading from Beyaz Agro to Kiwa-BCS were different from 

those observed by NOP personnel during a visit to Agropex on March 16, 2017. The 

invoices observed at Agropex listed the product as “non-GMO soybeans.” 

When applying to Kiwa-BCS, Beyaz Agro omitted any documents that would indicate 

“Ukraine” as the true country of origin of the soybeans, such as the Certificate of Origin or 

the Phytosanitary Certificate. Providing such information may have alerted Kiwa-BCS to the 

possibility that the soybeans may have been fumigated and thereby ineligible for organic 

certification. Instead, Beyaz Agro presented certification documents indicating the soybeans 

had been sourced from Russia. 

On November 15, 2016, Kiwa-BCS issued Beyaz Agro three organic transaction certificates 

(DE-25457-25, 26, and 27) based on the application. 
Revocation of USDA Organic Certification, Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S. Page 5

3. Beyaz Agro sold the non-organic, fumigated soybeans through Hakan Organics affiliate 

Agropex, to Global Natural in violation of both 7 C.F.R. § 205.100(c)(2) and 7 C.F.R. §

205.105 (a).

7 C.F.R. §205.100(c)(1): Any operation that: (1) Knowingly sells or labels a product as 

organic, except in accordance with the Act, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more 

than the amount specified in § 3.91(b)(1) of this title per violation.; and

7 C.F.R. §205.105 (a): To be sold or labeled as “100 percent organic,” “organic,” or 

“made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” the product must be produced

and handled without the use of synthetic substances and ingredients, except as provided in 

§205.601 or §205.603.

Beyaz Agro provided Agropex commercial invoices, bills of lading, and marine survey 

certificates that identified the soybeans as non-GMO but did not identify the soybeans as 

organic. They also provided the fraudulently obtained organic transaction certificates issued 

by Kiwa-BCS to represent the soybeans as certified organic. Soybeans from M/V “Four 

Diamond” were sold through Agropex as organic even though the soybeans were not 

produced or handled in compliance with the OFPA and its accompanying regulations.

Agropex used the fraudulently obtained organic transaction certificates to subsequently 

identify the soybeans as organic and to store the soybeans as organic at certified organic 

handler Penny Newman Grain Company, Stockton, California. Subsequently, Global Natural 

LLC, on behalf of Hakan Organics, Goksal Beyaz, Beyaz Aggro, and Agropex, arranged for 

the sale of the non-organic soybeans to certified organic handlers in the United States.

REVOCATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

Section 2120 of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. § 6519(c)) and 7 C.F.R. §§ 205.660(b)(1) and 205.662(a) 

and (f)(2) authorize the NOP’s program manager to order revocation of the certification of a 

certified operation and all of its responsibly connected persons, including any other person who 

is a partner, officer, director, holder, manager or owner of 10 percent or more of the voting stock 

of said operation if an inspection, review, or investigation of the certified operation reveals any 

noncompliance with the OFPA. As described above, Beyaz Agro violated the OPFA by 1) 

representing fumigated, non-organic soybeans as organic for sale in the United States and 2) 

presenting fraudulent documents to a USDA-accredited certifier to obtain organic certification 

documents. Accordingly, on April 28, 2017, the NOP issued Beyaz Agro a combined Notice of 

Noncompliance and Proposed Revocation due to Beyaz Agro’s knowing and willful violations of 

the USDA organic regulations.

On May 23, 2017, you, Goksal Beyaz, sent a letter to the NOP acknowledging that Beyaz Agro 

exported conventional, fumigated soybeans from Ukraine instead of the organic, Russian 

soybeans represented in organic certification documents. On May 29, 2017, you submitted a 

written declaration of withdrawal of your USDA organic certification to two USDA-accredited 
Revocation of USDA Organic Certification, Beyaz Agro Ith. Ihr. San. Ve Tic. A.S. Page 6

certifying agents, BCS-Kiwa and Control Union. On May 30, 2017, you further submitted a 

written declaration of withdrawal of your USDA organic certification to the NOP, as well as a 

statement of your intent to waive your rights to appeal the USDA’s proposed revocation of 

Beyaz Agro’s organic certification. 

Per its May 29 and May 30, 2017 submissions, Beyaz Agro has not appealed the proposed 

revocation. Accordingly, Beyaz Agro’s USDA organic certification is hereby revoked, in 

accordance with 7 C.F.R. § 205.662(f)(2). Beyaz Agro and all of its responsibly connected 

persons, including any other person who is a partner, officer, director, holder, manager or owner 

of 10 percent or more of the voting stock, are hereby directed to cease and desist all sale and 

handling of products represented as organic. Be advised that failure to cease and desist, and 

comply with the USDA organic regulations, may result in a civil penalty of $11,000 per violation

(7 U.S.C. § 6519).

Beyaz Agro’s certification status will be updated shortly in the NOP’s online Organic Integrity 

Database to reflect the revocation. 

Sincerely,

Miles V. McEvoy

Deputy Administrator

National Organic Program

cc: NOP Accreditation and International Activities Division 

NOPACAAdverseActions@ams.usda.gov 

Tobias Fischer – KIWA-BCS, Tobias.Fischer@bcs-oeko.de

Daniel Szalai – Control Union Certifications dszalai@controlunion.com