Fraudulent Certificates
Posted
The USDA Agricultural
Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) is alerting the
organic trade about the presence of two new fraudulent organic
certificates. Fraudulent organic certificates listing the following
businesses are in use and have been reported to the NOP:
- Cloud Vaping Industries
- Viet Nam Agricultural Biotechnology Joint Stock Company
Review these and other
fraudulent organic certificates online: Fraudulent certificate listing.
These certificates falsely
represent agricultural products as certified organic under the USDA organic
regulations, violating the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
Verifying Certified Operations
Fraudulent certificates may
have been created and used without the knowledge of the operator or the
certifying agent named in the certificate. The posting of fraudulent
certificates does not necessarily mean that the named business or certifying
agent was involved in illegal activity. If a business named on a fraudulent
certificate is certified, its certifying agent, identified in the list of
certified operations, can provide additional information and verification to
the organic trade.
The vigilance of the organic
community is a vital force in ensuring organic integrity. Organic handlers
should continue to review certificates carefully and validate with their
certifying agents, where needed. Interim instruction NOP 4013, Maintaining the Integrity of Organic Imports, reiterates the requirement for certifiers
and handlers of organic imports to verify the validity of certificates.
Any use of these certificates or
other fraudulent documents to market, label, or sell non-organic agricultural
products as organic can result in a civil penalty of up to $11,000 per
violation. Persons with information on suspicious certificates are asked to notify the NOP Compliance and Enforcement team.
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