Organic agriculture is becoming popular all over the world including India and the interest in organic foods is increasing at both the consumer and producer level but nobody is clear about the definition of organic foods. According to United States Deptt. of Agriculture (USDA), Organic food can be defined as "food grown- and processed without using most conventional pesticides; without fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; without biotechnology and without ionizing radiation".According to the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann-Veneman, Organic farmers in USA were eagerly waiting for the release of new National Organic Standards (NOS) to create consumer confidence in their products. The new NOS for agricultural products were alsorequired for consistent certification as well as uniformity in labeling of organic foods in USA. According to Organic Trade Association in USA, the retail sales of organic foods were more than $9 billion in 2001 and this industry is growing at the rateof 20-25% annually. In 1990, the US Congress passed Organic Food Production Act to facilitate marketing of organic foods. In December 1997, USDA proposed a new National Organic Programme (NOP) and after deliberations, the NOS were implemented in October2002.
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