National Organic Program

The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) program responsible for administering and enforcing the regulatory framework. The core mission of the NOP is to protect the integrity of the USDA organic seal. The seal is used for products adhering to USDA standards that contain at least 95% organic ingredients.

The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) required that the USDA develop national standards for organic products, and the final rule establishing the NOP was first published in the Federal Register in 2000^[1] and is codified in the Code of Federal Regulations at 7 CFR 205.