CCOF Certification Services, LLC maintains a strong commitment to organic integrity. The CCOF seal is one of the most recognized and trusted seals in the organic market, and as such, consumers rely on it to ensure that food bearing that label meets the high organic standards they expect.
The organic label is a powerful promise; it is the only farming practice label that is backed by federal law. From farm to truck to plate, certified organic products are traced using meticulous, transparent methods to combat fraud and ensure that consumers can trust that what they’re buying is really organic.
As a USDA-accredited certifier, CCOF inspectors carefully check certified farms at annual inspections (including unannounced inspections) to ensure organic standards are met.The USDA can even impose civil penalties against operations that commit organic fraud. CCOF’s supply chain audits and the detailed records kept by CCOF clients ensure that products carrying the USDA Organic label to be traced with confidence from farms to store shelves.
Highlights of Certification Integrity Accomplishments in 2024
With the recent release of CCOF’s 2024 annual impact report, we’re highlighting some of our proudest accomplishments advancing certification integrity in 2024:
To ensure all CCOF clients are upholding high standards across , 79 CCOF inspectors conducted 6,480 inspections in 2024. Over 270 of these were unannounced inspections, which strengthen the integrity of the organic label.
In addition to a combination of announced and unannounced inspections, CCOF also performs pesticide residue tests on products being sold as organic. This allows consumers to enjoy full confidence that the food they are eating does not contain dangerous or harmful chemicals. In 2024, CCOF performed 224 pesticide residue tests. Of these, the vast majority (179 tests) resulted in no detection at all.
CCOF takes residue detection very seriously and investigates every positive residue detection, even if only a very low level of residue has been detected. CCOF evaluates each instance to determine if the crop needs to be excluded from sale as organic. Of the 59 investigations performed in 2024, 28 resulted in exclusion from organic sale. CCOF works hard to ensure that consumers can trust products bearing the USDA organic label.
CCOF takes organic integrity very seriously at every level – not only performing detailed investigation of individual crops and products, but also investigating entire operations to ensure every client is upholding high standards.
In 2024, CCOF went the extra mile to improve our risk-assessment system and ensure that we are performing Supply Chain Traceability Audits on high-risk operations and aligning oversight accordingly. This allows us to catch operations that are not upholding organic standards and remove their products from the pipeline before they reach consumers.
The trustworthiness of the organic seal is a top priority for CCOF. Our organization works at every level to ensure that products bearing an organic label have been thoroughly inspected and tested to uphold the NOP’s high standards.
