Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions

Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions is a quality assurance program that organic businesses may voluntarily enroll in to help minimize or eliminate organic fraud. The program is based on buyer responsibility and supplier verification, and provides companies with a risk-based process for developing and implementing organic fraud mitigation measures. The goal of the program is to assure authenticity of organic products and maintain and grow consumer confidence in the USDA Organic seal.

Organic fraud cannot be tolerated in the organic supply chain, inside or outside the United States. Anytime there is fraud anywhere in organic in the organic system, it takes value out of the organic label. Everyone plays a role in preventing organic fraud. It is critical that organic businesses have robust systems and measures in place that adequately support the promise of providing organic products that people can trust. Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions, as adopted by businesses engaged in organic trade, will become the industry standard reference for excellence and achieving integrity across complex organic global supply chains.

To strengthen your supplier verification systems and prevent organic fraud. Organic companies that want to prevent organic fraud in their supply chain and be publicly recognized for having implemented an Organic Fraud Prevention Plan need to successfully complete the program. Leadership and commitment from organic businesses will drive adoption of the program. The more companies that join, the stronger the organic supply chain will become.

Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions is currently open for enrollment! In order to be eligible for the program, you must either be USDA certified organic, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified, or listed with a USDA recognized Material Review Organization such as OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute) or the WSDA Organic Materials Registration Program. Eligible operations include, farmers, handlers, processors, distributors, traders, retailers and input manufacturers. There are also opportunities for accredited certifiers, consultants and advisors that would like to partner in the program.

The most efficient method is to enroll online. If you have questions, please contact Gwendolyn Wyard, Vice President of Regulatory and Technical Affairs, at gwyard@ota.com.

Time and resource commitment depend on the size, scope and complexity of the organic business. The program is designed to foster continuous improvement and provide each company with a reasonable entry point. Companies should expect to form a multi-disciplinary organic fraud prevention team with a designated and qualified lead to carry out a vulnerability assessment. Each company will be required first perform a prefilter or initial screening assessment followed by a more detailed assessment on high-risk ingredients or products. Quality departments are best positioned to take the lead in conducting the pre-filter and vulnerability assessment, but will be best supported by procurement, legal, and Human Resources. The program requires ongoing annual management.

Eligible companies who want to prevent organic fraud in their supply chain and be recognized for having implemented an organic fraud prevention plan need to successfully complete a nine-step enrollment process: 1) Registration; 2) training; 3) pre-filter and vulnerability assessment; 4) vulnerability assessment review; 5) developing and implementing organic fraud mitigation measures; 6) implementing an Organic Fraud Prevention Plan; 7) updating your existing Organic System Plan; 8) obtaining confirmation from your certifier; and 9) enrollment completion and public recognition. The process is integrated into the organic certification cycle and maintained annually.

Enrolling companies’ annual fees are based on a sliding organic sales income scale to reflect the market value the enrollment represents for a company. Organic Trade Association members receive a 20% discount. Program fees range from $320 - $6,000. However, 99% of members would pay between $320-$1,280. Initial pricing is competitive with other food safety quality assurance programs.

The training titled “Developing an Organic Fraud Prevention plan is available, open and free. However, to access the fundamental training Guide that supports the training, you must be an eligible company enrolled in Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions.

The training can be accessed through the Food Fraud Prevention Academy on FoodFraudMOOC.com

The program is not a certification or verification program, and it does not involve a consumer-facing label. The program serves as a business-to-business marketing advantage designed to improve internal quality assurance programs. Companies that successfully complete and maintain annual enrollment will be publicly recognized.

USDA’s National Organic Program is, in fact, responsible for oversight and enforcement of the organic regulations. However, the Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions is designed to complement and reinforce USDA’s organic standards and the work of the accredited certifying agencies.

The Organic fraud Prevention Solutions Guide forms the basis of the program and is available at no charge to companies that enroll. Please check out the Executive Summary to learn more about the Guide.

No. The Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions program is intended to assist enrolled companies and partners in developing a risk-based approach to implement an organic fraud prevention plan. This program relies on participating companies to perform self-assessments using OTA’s recommended framework. OTA does not endorse or certify participating companies or products as being free of organic fraud. OTA does verify that companies have completed trainings, conducted Vulnerability Assessments, and updated their Organic System Plan to include an Organic Fraud Prevention Plan.