Agricultural Marketing Service January 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule implements a recommendation from the Kiwifruit Administrative Committee (Committee) to modify the handling regulations prescribed under the Federal marketing order for kiwifruit grown in California. This action revises the size and uniformity requirements for all varieties of Actinidia chinensis species kiwifruit, which is commonly known as golden kiwifruit, regulated under the marketing order. A corresponding change is also made to the kiwifruit import regulation as required under section 8e of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937.

This rulemaking amends the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic regulations to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products. The amendments protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations. Topics addressed in this rulemaking include: applicability of the regulations and exemptions from organic certification; National Organic Program Import Certificates; recordkeeping and product traceability; certifying agent personnel qualifications and training; standardized certificates of organic operation; unannounced on-site inspections of certified operations; oversight of certification activities; foreign conformity assessment systems; certification of producer group operations; labeling of nonretail containers; annual update requirements for certified operations; compliance and appeals processes; and calculating organic content of multi-ingredient products.