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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE 

BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATOR 

 

In re: 

Epigenetic Labs LLC, 

 

 

)

) 

)

) 

)

) 

) 

dba Organixx 

 

Stateline, Nevada 

 

 

 

 

Administrator’s Decision 

APL-70-20

 

This Decision responds to an appeal (APL-070-20) of a Notice of Denial of National 

Organic Program (NOP) certification issued to Epigenetic Labs LLC, dba Organixx (Organixx) 

of Stateline, Nevada, by Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York/NOFA-NY 

Certified Organic, LLC (NOFA-NY), an USDA-accredited certifying agent. The operation has 

been deemed not in compliance with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (Act)1

 and the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic regulations.2

BACKGROUND 

The Act authorizes the Secretary to accredit agents to certify crop, livestock, wild crop, 

and/or handling operations to the USDA organic regulations (7 C.F.R. Part 205). Certifying 

agents also initiate compliance actions to enforce program requirements, as described in section 

205.662, Noncompliance procedure for certified operations. Persons subject to the Act who 

believe they are adversely affected by a noncompliance decision of a certifying agent may appeal 

1

 7 U.S.C. 6501-6522 

2

 7 C.F.R. Part 205 
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such decision to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) pursuant to §205.680 

Adverse Action Appeals Process – General, and § 205.681, Appeals of the USDA organic 

regulations. 

FINDINGS OF FACT 

1. On June 11, 2020, NOFA-NY issued a Notice of Denial of Certification. 

2. On June 25, 2020, Organixx filed an Appeal. 

DISCUSSION 

The USDA organic regulations at 7 CFR §205.100, What has to be certified, state that, 

“(a) Except for operations exempt or excluded in §205.101, each production or handling 

operation or specified portion of a production or handling operation that produces or handles 

crops, livestock, livestock products, or other agricultural products that are intended to be sold, 

labeled, or represented as “100 percent organic,” “organic,” or “made with organic (specified 

ingredients or food group(s))” must be certified according to the provisions of subpart E of this 

part and must meet all other applicable requirements of this part.” 

The organic regulations at §205.102, Use of the term, “organic,” state that, “Any 

agricultural product that is sold, labeled, or represented as “100 percent organic,” “organic,” or 

“made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” must be: ... (b) Handled in 

accordance with the requirements specified in §205.101 or §§205.270 through 205.272 and all 

other applicable requirements of this part 205.” 

The organic regulations at §205.300, Use of the term, “organic,” state that, “(a) The term, 

“organic,” may only be used on labels and in labeling of raw or processed agricultural products, 
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including ingredients, that have been produced and handled in accordance with the regulations in 

this part.” 

The organic regulations at §205.400, General requirements for certification, state that, “A 

person seeking to receive or maintain organic certification under the regulations in this part must: 

(a) Comply with the Act and applicable organic production and handling regulations of this 

part...” 

NOFA-NY issued a Notice of Denial of Certification after finding that Organixx had 

falsified documentation submitted with its certification application; misrepresented that all 

product ingredients are certified organic; and used NOFA-NY’s seal on products when Organixx 

isn’t certified organic. 

Organixx states that it didn’t intentionally falsify documentation or provide misleading 

information on its ingredients; and an oversight had resulted in a product with a NOFA-NY 

reference being left on its website. 

A review of the evidence shows Organixx sells supplements and essential oils such as 

Organigreens Dehydrated Green Juice products, Nascent Liquid Iodine, Bone Broth Proteins, 

Ageless Brain, and 7M Immune supplements, which are manufactured by a copacker, Nutratech 

Labs (Nutratech). Organixx receives and stores the finished products; maintains a website to sell 

the products; and fulfills orders at its warehouse. On October 8, 2019, NOFA-NY had issued a 

Cease and Desist letter to Organixx stating that it had seen on Organixx’ website and other 

websites that Organixx had been labeling, advertising, and selling products identified as being 

certified organic by NOFA-NY. However, NOFA-NY stated that it hadn’t “been contacted by, 

granted certification to nor authorized the use of our agency name in any packaging, advertising 

or promotional materials for your products.” NOFA-NY instructed Organixx to immediately 
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remove “any and all reference to our agency from all labels, websites and promotional 

materials,” and asked that Organixx provide a written response confirming that it had taken those 

actions. Organixx’ products had been manufactured by Nutratech; however, Nutratech also 

wasn’t certified organic at the time. NOFA-NY subsequently certified Nutratech organic on 

February 12, 2020, and the certificate listed several products under Organixx’ name. 

On or about April 22, 2020, Organixx applied to NOFA-NY for handling/processing 

certification after initially contacting NOFA-NY on October 9, 2019 about seeking certification. 

The Organic System Plan (OSP)/Application for Certification listed several products for which 

Organixx sought certification. However, NOFA-NY found that Organixx had altered the organic 

certificate of Nutratech, which is also certified organic by NOFA-NY. NOFA-NY submitted the 

organic certificate issued to Nutratech on February 12, 2020, as well as the altered Nutratech 

certificate which it found on Organixx’ website. The certificate was altered to remove products 

manufactured for an entity other than Organixx. 

NOFA-NY issued another Cease and Desist letter to Organixx on April 29, 2020, stating 

that Organixx’ website was displaying an altered version of the Nutratech certificate addendum 

and that as the certificate is a legal and signed document, such altering of the certificate isn’t 

allowed. NOFA-NY also noted that Organixx’ website stated, “we’re proud to share our Organic 

Certificates below from the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York...” NOFANY stated this statement is misleading as NOFA-NY doesn’t certify Organixx directly. NOFANY instructed Organixx to immediately remove the altered organic certificate from its website 

and revise the misleading statement, and then provide written confirmation of its actions. 

Subsequently, on June 11, 2020, NOFA-NY issued a Notice of Denial of Certification to 

Organixx, stating that Organixx had continued to violate the organic regulations at 7 C.F.R. 
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§205.102, Use of the term, “organic.” Specifically, NOFA-NY stated that Organixx willfully 

falsified the organic certificate of Nutratech and its addendum dated April 22, 2020 which was 

submitted with Organixx’ application for certification; and that Organixx’ marketing materials 

found in numerous locations on Organixx’ website appeared to purposely mislead prospective 

customers that all ingredients in its products were certified organic. Further, as of June 11, 2020, 

Organixx’ website was found to contain a product, Restore Vitamin C Serum, with a statement 

of NOFA-NY certification on its packaging. NOFA-NY stated that Organixx hadn’t been 

granted certification; the Restore Vitamin C Serum product wasn’t submitted for approval; and it 

wasn’t listed in Organixx’ application. NOFA-NY also referenced the two previously issued 

Cease and Desist letters sent to Organixx. NOFA-NY didn’t conduct an inspection of Organixx’ 

handling facility as certification was denied at the initial review stage for reasons cited above. 

NOP confirmed with NOFA-NY that it hadn’t issued a Notice of Noncompliance prior to 

issuance of the Denial of Certification. NOFA-NY stated that due to evidence of multiple willful 

violations of the regulations by Organixx, it didn’t first issue a Notice of Noncompliance. The 

regulations at 7 C.F.R. §205.405(g) state that, “if a certifying agent has reason to believe that an 

applicant for certification has willfully made a false statement or otherwise purposefully 

misrepresented the applicant’s operation or its compliance with the certification requirements 

pursuant to this part, the certifying agent may deny certification pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(ii) 

of this section without first issuing a notification of noncompliance.” The prior violations of the 

organic regulations resulting in issuance of two Cease and Desist letters prior to Organixx’ 

application for certification and at the time Organixx applied for certification, justified a denial 

of certification without first issuing a noncompliance notice. Further, Organixx acknowledged 

in the Applicant Affirmation contained within the certification application that it must abide by 
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the organic regulations and that NOFA-NY’s logo could only be used by Organixx with prior 

approval by NOFA-NY. 

Organixx stated in its Appeal that it worked with NOFA-NY and thought all deficiencies 

had been corrected. Specifically, Organixx stated that it had redacted products from the organic 

certificate of Nutratech which that entity produced for another customer because Organixx 

doesn’t sell those products. Organixx stated it has since removed the redacted Nutratech 

certificate from its website. Regarding NOFA-NY’s allegation that Organixx appeared to be 

making purposely misleading statements by claiming that all ingredients in their products are 

certified organic, Organixx stated that it has complied with the organic regulations and discussed 

these allegations with NOFA-NY. Lastly, Organixx stated that it had done an ‘overhaul’ of its 

website and the Restore Vitamin C Serum product which was labeled as being certified by 

NOFA-NY was mistakenly left on their website. Organixx states it has removed non-compliant 

language from its website and trained staff on the organic regulations. 

However, while one can argue that leaving the Restore Vitamin C Serum on the website 

was an oversight, and that removing products from Nutratech’s organic certificate which weren’t 

produced for Organixx was done in an effort to avoid confusion, Organixx’ noncompliant actions 

are more far-reaching than these incidences. Organixx labeled and represented products as being 

certified organic by NOFA-NY prior to even applying for certification, and prior to its co-packer 

Nutratech applying for certification. NOFA-NY stated that Nutratech submitted a partial 

application on October 16, 2019, for Bee Friendly products but didn’t identify any Organixx 

products for which it sought certification. Nutratech wasn’t certified organic until February 12, 

2020, after asking NOFA-NY to expedite its application, though by that time Organixx products 

had been added to its request for certification. However, NOFA-NY had already issued a Cease 
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and Desist notice to Organixx on October 8, 2019, requesting that it remove organic claims and 

NOFA-NY’s name from its products which hadn’t been approved for organic certification. A 

second Cease and Desist letter was subsequently issued on April 29, 2020, regarding the 

unauthorized revisions to Nutratech’s organic certificate. Further, NOFA-NY issued a third 

Cease and Desist letter on July 17, 2020, when it found that Organixx’ website still displayed an 

unauthorized NOFA-NY certification statement on the Vitamin C Serum labels within the 

Radiant Skin Classic Kit and the Radiant Skin Deluxe Kit, when NOFA-NY doesn’t certify the 

Vitamin C Serum. NOFA-NY again told Organixx to immediately revise/remove reference to 

NOFA-NY on any products not certified by NOFA-NY and to provide written confirmation of 

the actions. 

As further evidence that NOFA-NY was justified in its issuance of the Notice of Denial 

of Certification, NOP’s Compliance and Enforcement Division received complaints about 

Organixx’ website using the USDA/NOP organic seal on products and making organic claims on 

the labels. NOP issued a Warning Letter to Organixx on December 20, 2019, stating that “an 

initial review of your labeling and marketing material shows that you may be labeling products 

as organic in violation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic regulations.” 

Organixx was instructed to immediately correct the violation as well as any other violations that 

are the same or similar. However, despite the Cease and Desist letters from NOFA-NY, the 

Warning Letter from NOP, and the Notice of Denial of Certification, Organixx has continued to 

represent and label products as organic although it has not been granted organic certification. 

Specifically, a review of Organixx’ website on November 24, 2020, revealed it is marketing 

numerous products with packaging showing the USDA NOP organic seal and/or stating that the 
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products are certified organic by NOFA-NY, i.e. 7M Immune Support, Ageless Brain, and 

Organigreens. 

CONCLUSION 

The USDA organic regulations assure consumers that products with the USDA organic seal meet 

consistent, uniform standards. Key to these standards is that products with the USDA organic 

seal are produced and handled in accordance with the organic regulations. However, the 

evidence substantiates that Organixx violated the organic regulations at 7 C.F.R. §205.100, What 

has to be certified; 7 C.F.R. §205.102, Use of the term, “organic;” 7 C.F.R. §205.300, Use of the 

term, “organic;” and 7 C.F.R. §205.400, General requirements for certification. Specifically, the 

evidence substantiates that Organixx represented and labeled its products as organic, making 

claims that it and its products are certified organic. Additionally, the continued use by Organixx 

of the USDA organic seal on its product labeling and website, as well as stating that products are 

certified organic by NOFA-NY, despite numerous prior directives to cease and desist such 

activity, constitutes a willful violation of the organic regulations and an aggravating factor to the 

violation. In fact, Organixx used the USDA NOP organic seal and NOFA-NY’s logo before it 

even contacted NOFA-NY to inquire about seeking certification and before even Nutratech 

applied for certification. Therefore, Organixx is not eligible for organic certification. 

DECISION 

The June 25, 2020 Appeal is denied, and the June 11, 2020 Notice of Denial of 

Certification is affirmed. Organixx is denied organic certification. However, pursuant to 7 

C.F.R. §205.405(e), Organixx may apply for certification again at any time with any certifying 
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agent, though any such application must include a copy of the June 11, 2020 Notice of Denial of 

Certification. 

Attached to this formal Administrator’s Decision denying Organixx’ Appeal is a Request 

for Hearing form. Organixx has thirty (30) days to request an administrative hearing before an 

Administrative Law Judge. If Organixx waives the hearing, this Administrator’s Decision 

denying Organixx certification will become final. Organixx remains uncertified during this 

period. 

 

 

 

 Done at Washington, D.C., on this _____ 12th

 day of ______________ January __, 2021. 

 

_________________________________ 

BRUCE 

SUMMERS

Digitally signed by BRUCE 

SUMMERS 

Date: 2021.01.12 13:35:58 

-05'00'

Bruce Summers 

Administrator 

Agricultural Marketing Service