Shortly after The New Food Economy posted their article about the biggest organic fraud in US history (11.5 million bushels of non-organic but sold as organic corn and soy), a USDA NOP (National Organic Program) spokesperson emailed them, coming to the defense of organics. What struck me from NOP’s email was:

Between October 2018 and March 2019, NOP received about 260 complaints and inquiries.

Complaints about uncertified businesses selling products as organic … continue to account for more than fifty percent of complaints received by NOP.

Those are only the issues that saw the light of day. How much food is being sold as organic that isn’t? You can’t tell by looking at a food whether it’s organic, you have to investigate its trail back to the farm, and even that isn’t foolproof. Foods that have many ingredients have many trails. And if those trails originate in a foreign country, I mean, all bets are off.