(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.

(b) Agricultural products or by-products that have been organically grown, as defined in section 21a-92, shall be certified as organically grown annually by the Department of Agriculture 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 five 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.

(P.A. 98-73, S. 2, 4; P.A. 02-51, S. 1; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(d), (f); P.A. 04-169, S. 17; 04-189, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 98-73 effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 02-51 amended Subsec. (b) by transferring certification from the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut to the Department of Agriculture and changing residue requirement from 1% to 5%; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 and P.A. 04-169 replaced separate Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection with single Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004.