On February 28, 2022, the National Organic Program (NOP) issued a final rule to remove the following substances from the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List):
- Crops: Vitamin B1 removed from §205.601
- Livestock: Procaine removed from §205.603
- Handling: Non-organic ingredients removed from §205.605 and §205.606
- Alginic acid
- Colors (black currant juice color, blueberry juice color, carrot juice color, cherry juice color, grape juice color, paprika color, pumpkin juice color, turmeric extract color)
- Kelp
- Konjac flour
- Sweet potato starch
- Turkish bay leaves
- Whey protein concentrate
The final rule is effective March 30, 2022, at which time CCOF can no longer approve client requests to add these materials to their Organic System Plan (OSP). See the Federal Register notice for additional details. If these substances have already been approved and are included in an operation’s OSP, the final rule allows implementation periods for removal from OSPs.
For crop producers currently approved to use vitamin B1 and livestock producers currently approved to use procaine, the compliance date for removal from the operator’s OSP is March 15, 2023—a one-year implementation period. For handlers currently approved to use the non-organic ingredients noted above, the compliance date for removal from the operator’s OSP is March 15, 2024—a two-year implementation period.
If you are using any of these substances in your organic production, CCOF will reach out to work with you to remove and replace these newly prohibited materials before their respective compliance implementation dates. You may request addition of replacement materials by submitting a request to inbox@ccof.org. For proposed use of new organic ingredients, provide CCOF with updated H2.0A Ingredient Suppliers and H2.0B Product Formulation forms as applicable.