Importing Organic Products to Untied States? How To Comply With USDA Organic Law

Imported food, beverage and dietary supplements offered for sale as “organic” in the United States must be certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP), or under a program with equivalent standards. Labeling products as organic that are not certified can result in refusal of entry into the U.S., fines for each violation and/or criminal enforcement actions. 

Imports can meet these standards in one of three ways:

1. The product was certified by an agency accredited through the NOP. Accredited agencies are listed in the USDA’s INTEGRITY database, available online.
2. The product was produced under an equivalency arrangement with a foreign country. The only countries with equivalency agreements with the U.S. are Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea and Switzerland.   
3. The product was produced under a recognition agreement, which is an agreement with foreign countries that do not have equivalent organic standards. These agreements allow specific foreign countries to accredit certifying agents in their country to the USDA standards. The only U.S. has recognition agreements with India, Israel and New Zealand.

If the product you are importing does not fall into one of these categories, you should not label or sell it as “organic.” Using fraudulent documents to market, label or sell non-organic products as organic is punishable by significant fines for each violation.  

To avoid these problems, you must obtain documentation from your supplier that the product you are importing was properly certified by an accredited agent, or was certified in a country with an equivalency or recognition agreement. In addition to ensuring proper certification, there are other commodity-specific requirements that must be followed for each shipment. 

To learn more about labeling and other claims, please visit U.S. Imports website for additional information.