NOP reviews approval for DHA and ARA omega-3s in organic infant foods
Contrary to some media reports which claimed the Department of Agriculture had already banned the two synthetic additives, the department is to hold a 60-day public consultation process on whether the inclusion of DHA and ARA should be included in infant foods.
Plans will be made to phase out their inclusion in organic infant foods under the current approval agreed during the Bush Administration.
Its decision follows the USDA’s announcement that the department incorrectly interpreted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines that appeared to allow DHA and ARA to be added to organic formulas.
Brain and eye development
Both DHA and ARA are used in 90 percent of organic infant formulas and are marketed as promoting brain and eye development.
Miles McEvoy, NOP’s deputy administrator, said: “Today's announcement will strengthen the National Organic Program by providing greater confidence for consumers and better information and procedures for producers."
NOP’s decision was welcomed as “a great ruling,” by Charlotte Vallaeys, food policy analyst with the Wisconsin-based organic advocacy organization the Cornucopia Institute.
Vallaeys told NutraIngredientsUSA.com that "This move will give consumers the assurance that the USDA is taking organic regulations seriously and is upholding the law."
The Cornucopia said it had discovered “…hundreds of cases where taking the additives (DHA and ARA) out (of the diet) specifically helped the infant’s health,” she added.
In a recent press statement, Corncucopia said: “Given reports of infants getting sick from these additives, and comprehensive scientific data showing there are no proven benefits to adding DHA and ARA to infant formula….(the) Institute has re-filed a formal legal complaint with the USDA’s National Organic Program to enforce the organic standards, which currently do not allow synthetic oils such as Martek’s DHA and ARA.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Martek Biosciences, which produces DHA and ARA, told NutraIngredients.com: “It is important to note that it has been misreported that DHA and ARA have been “Banned” in organics. This is not the case, as has been publicly stated by USDA NOP.”
Speaking exclusively to NutraIngredientsUSA.com, Cassie France-Kelly, the company’s corporate communications director, said: “NOP guidance will not be a ban on any nutrient, rather, it is revising its previous 2006 interpretation of the category in which they consider DHA and ARA and similar nutrients on the National List of Allowed Substances, which may require that DHA and ARA go through the process to be independently qualified for this list.”
The NOP’s decision is strictly a policy and procedural issue, said the company. “NOP’s recent announcement regarding the changes to the current accessory nutrient policy is based neither on safety nor efficacy of DHA and ARA, but rather on statutory interpretation and administrative process,” said France-Kelly.
France-Kelly added that if the agency’s final guidance required independent certification of DHA and ARA for the list, the company intended to work within NOP’s established procedures to ensure that DHA and ARA are independently qualified as approved nutrients for inclusion in products certified as organic.
Martek’s synthetic omega 3s are included in products offered by Abbott Laboratories' Similac infant formula brand, the Earth's Best brand owned by Hain Celestial Group, and Dean Foods' Horizon milk brand.
