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February 19, 2009
NSF's 'made with organic' standard becomes an American National Standard
Cosmeticsdesign.com (as well as lots of other sites) report that NSF's 'made with organic' standard becomes an American National Standard. This is the organic standard that was being promoted by Dr. Bronner’s Soaps that we blogged about last year. The “made with organic” bar is set fairly low, with only 70% of the ingredients required to be organic. Products covered by the standard include rinse-off and leave-on personal care and cosmetic products, as well as oral care and personal hygiene products. You can read the original press release from NSF at their site.
The 58 page standard (NSF/ANSI 305-2009) was published February 10 by NSF, but unfortunately costs $100.00 USD for a printed or PDF version. The Table of Contents is available in PDF format for free. The current TOC appears to essentially be the same as that in a draft from early 2008 that I have a copy of (R6), but differences in the actual content are unknown. It would appear that anyone interested in claiming compliance with the standard will have to spring for the $100 for a copy. However, if the certification process is anything like that planned for the “Natural” standards that are being proposed or adopted ($2500 per product on one of them) it seems that the standard will be well beyond affordability for small and handmade product manufacturers who have pioneered the use of Organic products.
There will be a logo for use by those complying with the standard:
One little tidbit from the Draft Standard:
7.1 The term "organic" shall only be used on labels and in labeling of raw or processed agricultural products, including ingredients, that have been produced and handled in accordance with the requirements of this Standard. The term "organic" shall not be used in a product name unless the product meets USDA-NOP criteria or criteria defined in this Standard.
Presumably this clause applies only to products claimed to meet the standard, but since this is now an ANSI standard should we worry that there might be an attempt to extend this to use by others such as essential oil vendors?
Posted by Rob on February 19, 2009 in Regulatory Issues, Standards | Permalink
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Comments
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Posted by: Sarah | Apr 10, 2009 2:32:59 AM
It sounds good that NSF's 'made with organic' standard would become an American National Standard. Indeed there should be a universally set standard for organic cosmetics.
Posted by: Organic Cosmetics | May 7, 2009 8:59:50 AM
Usda standards are now seemingly recognised as some of the best in the world due to all the press from the industry standards being set by NSF and also the cases of Dr Bronner in the US. Certainly most people seem to recognise the USDA logo - sometimes more than their own countries logo. For organic products certified to USDA standards please visit us at www.jasminskincare.com and feel free to browse our blog too www.jasminskincare.com/blog
Posted by: Lisa | Jun 9, 2009 5:22:49 PM
It is true that some products use the word organic though the levels of being organic are pretty low...so this way they just happen to dupe the consumers.
Posted by: mineral foundation | May 19, 2010 11:17:54 AM
