Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/05/22/03-12803/national-organic-program-proposed-amendments-to-the-national-list-of-allowed-and-prohibited
Timestamp: 2018-07-17 16:02:26
Document Index: 692185366

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 205', '§\u2009205', '§\u2009205', '§\u2009205', '§\u2009205', '§\u2009205', '§\u20096517', '§\u2009205']

https://www.federalregister.gov/d/03-12803 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/03-12803
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 27941
This proposed rule would amend the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) to reflect recommendations submitted to the Secretary by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) from November 15, 2000 through September 17, 2002. Consistent with recommendations from the NOSB, this proposed rule would: add five substances, along with any restrictive annotations, to the National List, and revise the annotation of one substance.
Written comments on this proposed rule should be identified with the docket number TMD-03-02. Commenters should identify the topic and section number of this proposed rule to which the comment refers.
On December 21, 2000 the Secretary established, within the National Organic Standards (NOS) (7 CFR part 205), the National List (§§ 205.600 through 205.607). The National List is the Federal list that identifies synthetic substances and ingredients that are allowed and nonsynthetic (natural) substances and ingredients that are prohibited for use in organic production and handling. Since established, the National List has not been amended. However, under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), as amended (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.), the National List can be amended by the Secretary based on proposed amendments developed by the NOSB.
This proposed rule would amend the National List to reflect recommendations submitted to the Secretary by the NOSB from November 15, 2000 through September 17, 2002. Between the specified time period, the NOSB has recommended that the Secretary add five substances to § 205.605 of the National List based on petitions received from industry participants. These substances were evaluated by the NOSB using the criteria specified in OFPA (7 U.S.C. 6517 and 6518) and the NOS. The NOSB also recommended that the Secretary revise the annotation of one substance included within section 205.605.
The NOSB has recommended that the Secretary add additional substances to sections 205.605 and 205.606 which have not been included in this proposed rule but are under review and, as appropriate, will be included in future rulemaking.
This proposed rule would amend paragraph (a) of § 205.605 by adding calcium sulfate—mined and glucono delta-lactone. This proposed rule would also amend paragraph (b) of § 205.605 by adding animal enzymes—without Lysosyme, cellulose, and tetrasodium pyrophosphate.
This proposed rule would revise current paragraph (b) of § 205.605 by amending an annotation to read as follows:
Potassium hydroxide—prohibited for use in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables except when used for peeling peaches during the Individually Quick Frozen (IQP) production process.
Eight notices were published regarding the meetings of the NOSB and its deliberations on recommendations and substances petitioned for amending the National List. Substances and recommendations included in this proposed rule were announced for NOSB deliberation in the following Federal Register Notices: (1) 65 FR 64657, October 30, 2000, (Animal enzymes); (2) 66 FR 10873, February 20, 2001, (Calcium sulfate); (3) 66 FR 48654, September 21, 2001, (Cellulose, and Potassium hydroxide); and (4) 67 FR 54784, August 26, 2002, (Glucono delta-lactone, and Tetrasodium pyrophosphate). Start Printed Page 27942
The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), as amended (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.), authorizes the Secretary, at § 6517 (d)(1), to make amendments to the National List based on proposed amendments developed by the NOSB. Sections 6518 (k)(2) and 6518 (n) of OFPA authorize the NOSB to develop proposed amendments to the National List for submission to the Secretary and establish a petition process by which persons may petition the NOSB for the purpose of having substances evaluated for inclusion onto or deletion from the National List. The National List petition process is implemented under § 205.607 of the NOS. The current petition process (65 FR 43259) can be accessed through the NOP Web site at http://www.ams.usda.gov/​nop.
States and local jurisdictions are preempted under section 2115 of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) (7 U.S.C. 6514) from creating programs of accreditation for private persons or State officials who want to become certifying agents of organic farms or handling operations. A governing State official would have to apply to USDA to be accredited as a certifying agent, as described in section 2115 (b) of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. 6514 (b)). States are also preempted under sections 2104 through 2108 of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. 6503 through 6507) from creating certification programs to certify organic farms or handling operations unless the State programs have been submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary as meeting the requirements of the OFPA.
Pursuant to section 2108(b) (2) of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. 6507(b) (2)), a State organic certification program may contain additional requirements for the production and handling of organically produced agricultural products that are produced in the State and for the certification of organic farm and handling operations located within the State under certain circumstances. Such additional requirements must: (a) Further the purposes of the OFPA, (b) not be inconsistent with the OFPA, (c) not be discriminatory toward agricultural commodities organically produced in other States, and (d) not be effective until approved by the Secretary.
Pursuant to section 2120 (f) of the OFPA (7 U.S.C. 6519 (f)), this regulation would not alter the authority of the Secretary under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), the Poultry Products Inspections Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.), or the Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.), concerning meat, poultry, and egg products, nor any of the authorities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), nor the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.).
Additional regulatory flexibility analysis beyond the regulatory flexibility analysis published in the NOP final rule on December 21, 2000, is not required for the purposes of this proposed rule. Comments from small entities affected by parts of this proposed rule will be considered in relation to the requirements of the RFA. These comments must be submitted Start Printed Page 27943separately and cite 5 U.S.C. 609 in the correspondence.
This proposed rule reflects recommendations submitted to the Secretary by the NOSB. The five substances proposed to be added to the National List were based on petitions from the industry and evaluated by the NOSB using criteria in the Act and the regulations. Because these substances are critical to organic production and handling operations, producers and handlers should be able to use them in their operations as soon as possible. Accordingly, AMS believes that a 10-day period for interested persons to comment on this rule is appropriate.
2. Section 205.605 (proposed to be revised at 68 FR 18560, April 16, 2003) is amended by:
a. Adding two substances to paragraph (a).
b. Adding three substances to paragraph (b).
Tetrasodium pyrophosphate—for use only in textured meat analog products.
[FR Doc. 03-12803 Filed 5-21-03; 8:45 am]