The National Organic Program is committed to protecting organic integrity. Our certifying agents work closely with certified operations to ensure that USDA organic products are compliant with all organic regulations. Certifying agents also identify and report any appearance of fraud to allow us to take the appropriate action. A few recent examples are provided below:

When we learn that operations are distributing fraudulent organic certificates, we take appropriate enforcement actions. Learn more.

If an operation is selling or representing their products as organic without a certificate, we impose civil penalties and take other available enforcement actions. Many of the recent instances of product misrepresentation have come from operations whose certification was suspended due to inadequate record-keeping or other regulatory non-compliances.

Two of the most visible potential violations are described below. Submit a Complaint to USDA

Common labeling problems include:

In these cases, please provide:

Common retail establishment problems include the commingling of organic and conventional produce in the same bin, missing or unclear signage identifying bulk products as organic, and contaminating organic products with unapproved cleaners or solvents. In these cases, please provide: