USDA to check organic Chinese soybeans

[S.Annadana]

USDA to check organic Chinese soybeans
U.S. producers doubt Chinese imports comply with strict rules on chemicals
By PAULA LAVIGNE, The Des Moines Register

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2007
U.S. Department of Agriculture auditors are scheduled to make their first -- and long-awaited -- trip to China this month to check on organic food operations there.

U.S. organic farmers and processors have been asking for closer USDA surveillance over Chinese organics, especially in the wake of recent problems with some products: antifreeze in toothpaste, lead in children's toys and banned antibiotics in fish. Imported Chinese wheat gluten also was the source of toxic melamine blamed in the deaths of thousands of pets.

Several USDA-certified organic products are imported from China, but soybean imports are of particular concern to Iowans.

A shortage of organic soybeans in the United States and Canada is forcing more U.S. companies to turn to China. Those beans are used to make foods such as soy milk and tofu, and for feeding organically raised cows, pigs and chickens.

Soybean dealers, processors and some farmers familiar with the USDA's strict rules for organic production doubt that Chinese farmers are complying.

Roy Bardole, a director on the United Soybean Board and a soybean processor in Rippey, Iowa, said he has visited USDA-certified organic soybean fields in Asia where he has seen farmworkers walking through rows with backpack sprayers.

"We may be importing 'organically produced soybeans' that have either herbicide or insecticide on them, which is absolutely against the rules in the U.S.," he said. "It's not fair to the U.S. producers."

But importers and certifiers say Chinese farms are subject to the same scrutiny as U.S. farms.

The USDA won't say whether it suspects violations. Two auditors will make surprise visits to organic farms and processing plants and will inspect the records of four agencies that grant USDA certificates in China, said Barbara Robinson, head of the USDA division that oversees the organic program.

Robinson said the agency expects to issue a report a few weeks after the trip.

Imports now account for about half of all soybeans purchased for organic food and livestock feed, said Lynn Clarkson, president of Clarkson Grain in Cerro Gordo, Ill. Eighty percent to 90 percent of those imports come from China and the rest from South America.

The USDA's visit to China should "do a lot to calm people's concerns," Clarkson said. "It also will do a lot to warn people who might be cheating, or thinking of cheating, that we're going to be looking."

All USDA-certified organic farms and processors, regardless of where they are, must follow regulations that prohibit chemicals on crops and antibiotics and hormones in livestock.