Who defines the National List?
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is responsible for recommending to the Secretary of Agriculture which materials will be on the list. This process began in 1995, when the NOSB completed a massive review of the materials in use by organic producers, and those recommendations became the base for the first draft of the National List. The procedure is ongoing, however, and many manufacturers and processors seek to add new substances to the National List that are currently prohibited in organic food production. While the NOSB includes five separate committees, including committees on livestock, food processing, crops and materials, it is the materials committee that must review the most constant supply of petitions asking for permission to use currently prohibited substances in the production of organically-certified foods. The committee continues to review these petitions on a quarterly basis. For example, in its March 2001 quarterly meeting, the materials committee was asked to
