Substitute House Bill No. 5526
          Substitute House Bill No. 5526

               PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-73


AN ACT CONCERNING ORGANICALLY GROWN FOOD.


    Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
    Section  1. Subdivision (19) of section 21a-92
of  the  general  statutes  is  repealed  and  the
following is substituted in lieu thereof:
    (19)  ["Organically  grown food" means natural
food which has not been subjected  to  pesticides,
commercial  fertilizers,  as defined in subsection
(a) of section 22-111b, or hormones;] "ORGANICALLY
GROWN"  MEANS  PRODUCED  THROUGH  ORGANIC  FARMING
METHODS, WHICH INVOLVE A SYSTEM OF ECOLOGICAL SOIL
MANAGEMENT AND MECHANICAL OR BIOLOGICAL METHODS TO
CONTROL INSECTS, WEEDS, PATHOGENS AND OTHER  PESTS
AND  WHICH  RELY  ON CROP ROTATION, CROP RESIDUES,
COMPOSTED ANIMAL MANURES, LEGUMES, GREEN  MANURES,
COMPOSTED ORGANIC WASTE OR MINERAL-BEARING ROCKS.
     Sec.  2.  (NEW)  (a) No person may advertise,
distribute or  sell  a  food  or  food  supplement
described  as  "organic",  "organically  grown" or
"natural" or described with or by words of similar
meaning,  unless  such  food  or  food  supplement
complies  with  the  definitions  of  "organically
grown food" or "natural food", as the case may be,
as provided  in  section  21a-92  of  the  general
statutes.
    (b) Agricultural products  or by-products that
have been organically grown, as defined in section
21a-92 of the  general  statutes,  as  amended  by
section 1 of  this  act,  shall  be  certified  as
organically grown annually  by  the  certification
committee  of  the   Northeast   Organic   Farming
Association of Connecticut or a certification body
recognized by the National Organic Standards Board
or the United  States  Department  of Agriculture.
Organic certification shall  include  at least one
annual  site visit  by  an  independent  inspector
approved   by   the   certification   body.   Such
certification  bodies  shall  issue  certification
standards  which denote  approved,  regulated  and
prohibited  farming  practices   and   substances.
Certification  standards  shall  be  reviewed  and
updated  annually  by   the   certification  body.
Agricultural  products or  by-products  that  have
been certified as  organically  grown shall not be
intentionally subjected to  prohibited  substances
and shall not  contain  residues  in excess of one
per  cent  of   the  United  States  Environmental
Protection  Agency's  allowable   tolerance  level
caused    by   unintentional    and    unavoidable
contamination by prohibited  substances. Certified
organic farming shall be a production system which
prohibits the use  of  synthetically  manufactured
fertilizers,       synthetically      manufactured
pesticides, synthetically manufactured herbicides,
synthetically       manufactured       fungicides,
synthetically   manufactured  growth   regulators,
irradiation or transgenic seeds and sewage sludge.
Violations of this  section  shall  be reported to
the Department of Consumer Protection.
     (c)  All  foods  advertised,  distributed  or
sold in violation of this section shall be  deemed
to  be  misbranded  under  section  21a-102 of the
general statutes.
    Sec.  3.  Sections  21a-80  and  21a-81 of the
general statutes are repealed.
    Sec.  4.  This  act  shall take effect July 1,
1998.

Approved May 19, 1998