FORMAL RECOMMENDATION BY THE

NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD (NOSB) 

TO THE NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM (NOP) 

Date: 5/22/08 

Subject: Updates to Chapter 5 of the NOSB New Member Guide.

Chair: Rigoberto Delgado 

Recommendation

The NOSB hereby recommends to the NOP the following: 

Rulemaking Action: 

Guidance Statement: 

Other: XXX 

Statement of the Recommendation (including Recount of Vote):

The Board recommends including the following changes to the NOSB New Member Guide: 

1. Addition to Chapter 5, section B (Suggested Best Practices/Making the Most of Your 

Conference Calls and Meetings), of a descriptive paragraph and link to the final NOSB 

recommendations table. 

2. Addition to Chapter 5 (Suggested Best Practices) of a new section called: f. List of common 

technical sources used by NOSB members. 

NOSB Vote 

Motion: to approve updates to the NOSB New Member Guide as described by the Chair of the 

Policy Committee 

Moved by: Barry Flamm Second by: Hubert Karreman

Board vote: Yes - 14 No- 0 Abstain- 0 Absent - 1 

Result: The ayes have it and the motion is agreed to. 

Rationale Supporting Recommendation (including consistency with OFPA and NOP):

The updates should allow NOSB members to access critical sources of technical information. 

Response by the NOP:
National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Policy Development Committee 

Updates to the New Member Guide 

April 3, 2008 

Summary: 

NOSB members suggested the addition of two sections to the New Member Guide which 

include adding a link to past Board recommendations and a list of common technical 

sources used by NOSB members. These updates will improve the process of conducting 

NOSB business and training of incoming NOSB members. 

Recommendation: 

The Policy Development Committee recommends two updates to the New Member 

Guide document: 

1. Addition to Chapter 5, section B (Suggested Best Practices/Making the Most of 

Your Conference Calls and Meetings), of a descriptive paragraph and link to the 

final NOSB recommendations table. 

2. Addition to Chapter 5 (Suggested Best Practices) of a new section called: f. List 

of common technical sources used by NOSB members. 

Committee vote: Motion: 1st Rigo Delgado, 2nd Bea James

 Yes: 4 No: 0 Abstain: 0 Absent: 0

Recommendation 1: 

Include in Chapter 5, section B (Suggested Best Practices/Making the Most of Your 

Conference Calls and Meetings), a descriptive paragraph and link to the final NOSB 

recommendations table. The proposed paragraph would become the last in the section B 

and would read as follows: 

In order to gain a better understanding of the format and type of recommendations 

produced by the Board, it is suggested to review the listing of past recommendations. 

These are found online in the NOSB website: 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nosb/NOSBrecommendations/NOSBrecommendations.html
Recommendation 2: 

Include a new section to Chapter 5, listing common technical resources used by NOSB 

members. The proposed section would be located immediately after section e and would 

include the following. 

f. List of common technical sources used by NOSB members 

Very often during the review process and discussions, NOSB members need to 

consult various sources of information. The following is a general list of common 

technical sources. 

Federal Regulatory Agencies 

U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop

U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service 

http://www.ars.usda.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and 

Extension Service 

http://www.csrees.usda.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service 

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/

U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library Alternative Farming 

Systems Information Center 

http://www.nalusda.gov/afsic/ofp/susagrsch.htm

U.S. Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education 

Program 

http://www.sare.org/index.htm

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Risk Information System 

http://www.epa.gov/iris

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water 

http://www.epa.gov/ow/

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Science 

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Organic Agriculture Page 

http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/torg.html#National%20Organic%20Standards
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Inert Ingredients Permitted in Pesticide 

Products 

http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/inerts/lists.html

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry 

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/atsdrhome.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition - 

Food Ingredients and Packaging Terms 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-def.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 

Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substance (FCS) Notifications 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-fcn.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 

Indirect" Additives Used in Food Contact Substances 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-indt.html 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine 

http://www.fda.gov/cvm

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Risk Analysis Clearinghouse 

http://www.foodriskclearinghouse.umd.edu/

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Numerical Listing of GRAS Notices 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~rdb/opa-gras.html

U.S. National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health 

Sciences 

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/centers/res-core/iowares2.htm. 

U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration 

http://www.osha.gov 

Other Sources

Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition 

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/index.html

Tufts’ University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy 

http://nutrition.tufts.edu/

American Dietetic Association 

http://www.eatright.org
Appropriate Technology Transfer to Rural Areas 

http://www.attra.org

CABI Publishing (organic research abstracts) 

http://www.organic-research.com/

Codex Alimentarius Commission 

http://www.codexalimentarius.net

European Union (organic regulation) 

http://www.organic-europe.net/europe_eu/default.asp#2092

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 

http://www.fao.org/organicag/default.htm

Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) 

http://www.fao.org/es/esn/jecfa/database/cover.htm

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements 

http://www.ifoam.org

International Food Information Council Foundation 

http://www.ific.org

Institute of Food Science and Technology 

http://www.ifst.org

Organic Farming Research Foundation 

http://www.ofrf.org

Organic Materials Review Institute 

http://www.omri.org

Organic Trade Association 

http://www.ota.com

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL) 

http://www.organic-europe.net

Rodale Institute 

www.rodaleinstitute.org

The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service 

http://www.attra.org

The Merck Index. http://www.merckbooks.com/

PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/

Scirus: http://www.scirus.com/
Food Ingredients: http://www.food-ingredients.com/

American Association of Bovine Practitioners: www.aabp.org

Veterinary Botanical Medical Association: www.vbma.org

American Veterinary Medical Association: www.avma.org

American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association: www.ahvma.org