UNFI Establishes Guidelines for Products that Change Organic Status

March 30, 2010: As the nation’s leading organic and natural foods distributor, UNFI is determined to do its part to maintain consumer confidence in organics and the integrity of the organic supply chain.

With this in mind, UNFI has established guidelines for organic suppliers in the event that material changes are made to a product’s organic status.  UNFI has informed suppliers that a new UPC will be required in the event of a significant change in organic status as defined by the  USDA’s National Organic Program standards.  An example of such a change is an organic product reformulated to be non-organic or from 100% Organic to Made with Organic Ingredients.

UNFI is requiring timely communication and a change in UPC to allow us to alert our retail customers to important product changes.  The policy also states that if a product’s organic status changes without a new UPC employed, and UNFI is aware of the situation, UNFI will take appropriate action to include consideration of halting shipments of the product until the situation is corrected.

While we don’t expect this policy to resolve every issue that could arise, we believe this policy is a solid first step toward establishing proper procedures for communicating significant product changes along the supply chain in the natural and organic product industry.