The USDA is allowing 60 days for comments before they add 38 inorganic ingredients to organic food.

The “minor” ingredients contained in this interim final rule are non-organic, agricultural ingredients that may be considered for use in an “organic” processed product. One of these minor ingredients cannot comprise more than 5 percent of an “organic” product. Much like the U.S. work visa laws, but with food rather than employees, companies can use any of these inorganic ingredients if they state that an organic equivalent was unavailable.

The interim final rule may be accessed at the National Organic Program website www.ams.usda.gov/nop

You can make a comment on this issue by …

Mail: Robert Pooler, Agricultural Marketing Specialist, National Organic Program, USDA/AMS/TMP/NOP, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Room 4008-So., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250.
Internet: www.regulations.gov

Inorganic is the New Organic, at least with the following ingredients:

Casings from processed intestines.
Celery powder
Chia (Salvia hispanica)
Colors derived from these 19 extracts, juices and spices: Annatto extract, beet juice, beta-carotene derived from carrots, black currant juice, black/Purple carrot juice, blueberry juice, carrot juice, cherry juice, chokecherry-aronia juice, elderberry juice, grape juice, grape skin extract, paprika, pumpkin juice, purple potato juice, red cabbage extract, red radish extract, saffron and turmeric.
Dillweed oil
Fish oil stabilized with organic ingredients or only with ingredients
Fructooligosaccharides
Frozen Galangal
Gelatin
Water-extracted gums, such as Arabic, guar, locust bean and Carob bean
Hops
Insulin enriched with oligofructose
Kelp, when used as a thickener or dietary supplement
Konjac flour
Lecithin—unbleached
Frozen lemongrass
Unbleached orange shellac
High-methoxy pectin
Peppers (Chipotle chile)
Starches, including cornstarch, unmodified rice starch and sweet potato starch for bean thread production
Turkish bay leaves
Wakame seaweed
Whey protein concentrate (yep, milk)