Since 1990 organic food has been allowed to exist independently of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the one federal agency responsible for food safety and quality. Sure, organic food still gets recalls, lots of them - using feces as fertilizer and having customers who think food doesn't need to be washed will do that - but the definition of 'organic' is not determined by the USDA.

Those dozens and dozens of synthetic additives allowed on the organic food National List? That is because of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which was created by Congress in 1990. The reason there is no quality assurance for organic food and no surprise spot testing to make sure organic farming is actually organic ? Also thanks to the NOSB.

The Board, composed primarily of organic industry insiders, has had the kind of freedom from oversight every industry segment in America wishes they could wrangle.

But now that organic food is a $35 billion industry and has used a substantial amount of money to create the mythology that their process makes food more nutritious and has no pesticides, the USDA has wanted to reassert some level of control - and they got it. When NOSB was rechartered in May it was instead classified as a time-limited Advisory Board, subject to USDA.