National Organic Standards Board

Handling Committee

Sunset 2013 Proposal

Agar- Agar on 205.605(a)

February 21, 2012

List: 205.605 Nonagricultural (nonorganic) substances allowed as ingredients in 

or on processed products labeled as “organic” or “made with organic (specified 

ingredients or food group(s)).”

(a) Non-synthetics allowed

Committee Summary:

Federal register notice of the sunset of this material elicited several public comments in 

favor of its re-listing. There were no comments against re-listing of it.

Review of the original TAP, the original recommendation to list, historical documents 

and public comments does not reveal any unacceptable risks to the environment, 

human, or animal health as a result of the use or manufacture of this material, at this 

time.

Upon review of the Technical Evaluation Report submitted on October 3, 2011, there 

does appear to be a question as to whether two forms of agar-agar being used exists. 

While there are extraction processes that are natural, without chemical modifications or 

non-synthetic, there are others that can be considered synthetic. An example of the 

synthetic method would be when the Graciliara species of algae are subjected to an 

alkaline pretreatment (heated in sodium hydroxide solution) to modify the 

polysaccharides in the algae. This process brings about a chemical change in the 

polysaccharides (L-galactose-6-sulfate groups are converted to 3,6-anhydro-Lgalactose), increasing the gel strength of the agar-agar. Data would indicate that without 

this treatment the gel extracted would be too weak for most food applications.

While the Technical Review does list several methods of extraction, it does state that 

only 1 -2 % of the Agar- Agar supply is from the natural form of extraction. Furthermore, 

the product from the natural extraction method does not appear to be readily available 

in the U.S. market, or at least on a very limited basis. 

The Technical Evaluation Report submitted on October3, 2011, under Evaluation 

Question #9: (which pertains to possible harmful effects on the environment or 

biodiversity) states that the current world demand for agar-agar is increasing and has 

the potential for over harvesting of these natural resources, which would affect 

HC 1 Sunset 2013 Agar-Agar
biodiversity of nearby beaches and the algae beds themselves. There were no studies 

found to indicate whether or not the harvesting of agarophytes, in particular, is harmful 

to the biodiversity on nearby beaches or in the algae beds at this time. There are

alkaline waste waters that result from the manufacture of agar-agar, but there were no 

documents found that show this to be a problem to the environment, at this time. Based 

off of the information provided in the Technical Evaluation Report we are making the 

following recommendations, but we do think that continued review of this material and 

these areas of possible concerns should be duly noted in this recommendation.

Recommendation:

At this time we would recommend the relisting of Agar- Agar as it is currently listed on 

the National List : 205.605 Nonagricultural (nonorganic)substances allowed as 

ingredients in or on processed products labeled as “organic” or “made with organic 

(specified ingredients or food group(s)).”

(a) Nonsynthetics allowed

We would also recommend an additional listing of Agar- Agar under: 

(b) Synthetics allowed

This recommendation would be based from information presented in the October 3, 

2011 Technical Evaluation Report. The NOSB Classification Guidance of 11/05/2009 

was also considered for making this recommendation.

We would propose to list both with the following Annotations: 

(a) Non-synthetic allowed 

(b) Synthetics allowed 

We would also recommend that this listing be revisited once the NOP has finalized the 

Draft Guidance for Materials Classifications (agricultural, nonagricultural substances). 

This would help to ensure that the materials have been properly classified and thus 

remove any further confusion from their status and help during future reviews.

Agar continues to be an important material used by the organic community.

Committee Vote

5 – yes 0 – no 1- absent 0-recused 0- abstain 

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