SACRAMENTO - The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)
encourages interestedpersons to comment on USDA's recently released
National Organic Program Proposed Rules.
Under current California law, when the final federal rules are adopted,
they will become the newstandards with which California organic producers,
handlers and certifiers must comply.
In response to the proposed rules, three public meetings will be held,
which will serve as the officialvenue for public and industry
representatives to make suggestions to the California Organic Foods
Advisory Board as to future direction in light of federal regulations.
The Advisory Board will then review all comments and make recommendations
to CDFA. Thesemeetings will help in the evaluation of the proposed rules
and determine how they will affect theCalifornia organic industry and
consumers.
The meetings, all beginning at 9:30 a.m., will be held:
January 28, 1998, San Diego County Farm Advisor's Office, 555
Overland Avenue, Building 4, San Diego.
January 30, 1998, Salinas Community Center, Gablin Room, 490
North
Main Street, Salinas.
February 3, 1998, CDFA Auditorium, 1220 N Street, Sacramento.
Written and oral comments will be accepted at all the hearings. If unable
to attend the hearings, written comments may be submitted to CDFA by mail
(California Organic Program, CDFA, 1220 N Street, Room A-447, Sacramento,
CA 95814), but must be postmarked by February 7, 1998.
Comments sent by fax (916-654-0666) or email (rgreen@cdfa.ca.gov) must be
received on or before February 9, 1998.
Interested parties may also want to comment directly to USDA regarding the
proposed federal regulations.
To assist those preparing comments, CDFA has developed an informative
Comment Guidelines Fact Sheet. A copy of this document is available from
CDFA by calling 916-654-0919, or by visiting the CDFA
homepage at www.cdfa.ca.gov/inspection/fve/organic.html .
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