Is Wal-Mart Mislabeling Organics?

From the Springdale (Ark.) Morning News:

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based activist group, has filed a legal complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for allegedly mislabeling non-organic products as being certified organic in some of its stores.

The Institute has filed the complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Institute spokesman Mark Kastel said his organization filed the complaint after Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott did not respond to a letter sent by the group.

But Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karen Burke said the issue boiled down to one of misplaced signs.

“We believe it’s an isolated incident if one of those organic tags should accidentally shift in front of the wrong item, and this is what the issue is about,” she said.

Wal-Mart is working on the problem at the stores where the incidents took place, Burke said.

Kastel countered, however, that the mislabeling was a “systematic problem” with Wal-Mart and not just an isolated incident.

“This is no mom and pop store. This is happening all over (Wal-Mart) stores across the country,” he said.

The Cornucopia Institute earlier filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after receiving no response to its letter to Scott, Kaste said. The organization followed up with a complaint to the state of Wisconsin after finding out that a USDA investigation could take between one and two years, he said.

From Business Week:

Now there are questions about whether “the Wal-Mart price” might come at a cost to organic foods. State officials in Wisconsin have launched an investigation into the retailer’s practices after complaints that Wal-Mart may be misleading consumers. A central question is whether signs on store shelves and banners above the shelves describe foods as “organic,” while the foods nearby do not qualify for the label, under federal guidelines. “We are beginning an investigation that will look into signage and whether it can be considered misleading,” says Jim Rabbitt, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection in Madison. The bureau plans to examine the practices of Wal-Mart and other retailers for 30 to 60 days to determine how big an issue this is.

The U.S. Agriculture Dept. is reviewing a complaint about Wal-Mart’s practices from the same watchdog group that notified Wisconsin officials. The USDA has not decided whether to pursue its own investigation. “We are seeking more information to determine what action should be taken,” says Joan Schaffer, spokeswoman for the national organic program at the USDA.

• Click here to read “Organic Fraud: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Accused of Widespread Distortion.”
• Click here to read more from the Cornucopia Institute.
• Click here to learn more about Wal-Mart’s environmental policies.

Posted by Russ Fagaly on Wednesday, January 17, 2007