Your favorite imported organic wine might not be available in the US soon thanks to a bureaucratic boondoggle. Or, it might no longer be organic – either in name, or possibly in practice.
For no good reason whatsoever, the US Department of Agriculture decided last year that for a bottle of wine to be sold in the US as organic, not only must the vineyard and winery be certified organic – the importer must also be certified organic. This is ridiculous on its face, because the importer doesn't touch the wine itself.
Putting aside how stupid the regulation is, the current crisis is entirely the USDA's fault. Importers are trying to apply for certification, and 1853 "handling operations" in the US have been certified, according to the USDA. But there's a backlog of bureaucrats processing applications. The deadline for compliance was last week, with many importers still uncertified and uncertain about what to do about it.
As of today, if a wine that was made from USDA-certified organically grown grapes, in a USDA-organically certified winery in France or Chile or New Zealand, is imported by a company whose paperwork hasn't been processed by the slow-moving USDA bureaucracy, everyone involved is subject to "significant monetary penalties," and worse.
I asked the USDA what happens if a wine whose importer is not certified organic appears in a store with "organic" on the label. Here's the answer from a USDA spokesperson:
"Failure to comply with the USDA organic regulations can result in significant monetary penalties, both in the form of holding fees by US Customs and Border Protection where there is evidence of trademark violations and in the form of cease/desist notices and civil penalties from USDA. USDA also works with the Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice in cases involving high market impact and fraud."
The DOJ? For wine labels? Seriously? I guess the DOJ has a lot of time on its hands because it didn't consider inciting insurrection worth pursuing.
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