NSF Named Program Manager for Regenerative Organic Certified™ Program

ANN ARBOR, MICH. – NSF, a global public health and safety organization, has been named the program manager for the Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC) program, a holistic agriculture certification focused on pasture-based animal welfare, fairness for farmers and workers, and robust requirements for soil health and land management. Developed by the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), the ROC covers requirements for farming and ranching operations, transportation, slaughter and certain processing facilities that produce food and fiber.

The goals of the ROC are to increase soil organic matter over time, improve animal welfare, provide economic stability and fairness, and create resilient regional ecosystems and communities. ROC utilizes the USDA National Organic Program as the core of its program. NSF facilitated the public comments process in 2017 as ROA developed the program.

“We’re expanding our involvement beyond managing the public comment and are now leading program implementation and certification body management for the ROA,” said Jessica Evans, Director of Standards Development at NSF. “The Regenerative Organic Certification program recognizes the efforts of certified organic producers who are demonstrating ambitious commitments to animal welfare, soil health and worker fairness.”

NSF’s role as program manager will involve the training and educating of certifying bodies, collection of data, and management of audit information and reports. Prior to the full launch of the ROC, NSF will coordinate a pilot program with various sizes and types of farms, facilities and verifiers to test the audit process and certification criteria.

NSF has more than 70 years of experience conducting third-party audits and developing environmental health and safety standards. In addition to the ROC, NSF also offers USDA National Organic Program certification and Certified Transitional certification through Quality Assurance International (QAI). QAI is part of NSF’s family of companies.

For more information on Regenerative Organic Certified, please visit regenorganic.org. For more information on participating in the Regenerative Organic Certified pilot program, please contact Jessica Evans at jevans@nsf.org.

Editor’s Note: For media interviews, please contact Thomas Frey, APR at media@nsf.org or 734-214-6242.

About NSF: NSF (nsf.org) is a global independent organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for the food, water, health sciences and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment. Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. With clients in more than 175 countries, NSF is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Indoor Environment.

NSF’s sustainability certification, testing and consulting services can lower risk, increase growth and reduce costs, while instilling marketplace and investor confidence. Services include safer chemistry, responsible sourcing for food and textiles, landfill-free, climate services, sustainable product certification and e-waste and forestry verifications.