Whole Foods To Require Third Party Certification

Whole Foods Market says all personal care products and cosmetics making an organic claim sold in its U.S. stores must be third-party certified.

Suppliers making an organic claim have until Aug.1, 2010 to submit their plans for compliance and until June 1, 2011 to be in full compliance, according to Whole Foods.

Under the new policy, all products making an organic product claim must be certified to the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) standard. Products making a “made with organic ingredients” claim must also be certified to the NOP standard, and products making a “contains organic ingredients” claim must be certified to the NSF 305 ANSI Standard for Organic Personal Care products, a consensus-based industry standard accepted by the American National Standards Institute and managed by NSF International.

The USDA has said that personal care products can be certified to the NOP standard, but such certification is not mandatory for non-food products. To honor the authenticity of the organic label, Whole Foods Market is requiring organic certification to ensure that claims on product labels are accurate.

“At Whole Foods Market, our shoppers do not expect the definition of organic to change substantially between the food and non-food aisles of our stores,” said Joe Dickson, quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Market. “We believe that the ‘organic’ claim used on personal care products should have just as strong a meaning to the ‘organic’ claim used on food products.”

Whole Foods Market is currently working with suppliers to transition their label claims to the meet these standards:

1. Products making an “Organic” product claim – Must be certified to the USDA’s National Organic Program standard for organic (>95%) products.

2. Products making a “Made with Organic ______” claim – Must be certified to the USDA’s National Organic Program standard for Made with Organic (>70%) products.

3. Products making a “Contains Organic ______” claim – Must be certified to the NSF/ANSI 305 Organic Personal Care Standard.

4. Products listing an organic ingredient in the “Ingredients:” listing – Organic ingredient must be certified to the USDA NOP standard.