Received and approved a report from the criteria committee, chaired by Tim Kapsner of Aveda, that defined the processes used to manufacture organic personal care products. Task force members were given 30 days to add any processes to the document.

Discussed criteria to evaluate materials and ingredients used in personal care products. The group agreed that criteria produced for the fiber standards task force was a good model. A draft document for personal care should be written in two months, the OTA's Associate Policy Director, Tom Hutcheson, said.

Approved a decision tree developed by Bob Durst of Simple Organic Solutions as a tool to evaluate materials and ingredients.

Began a preliminary discussion about what preservatives should be allowed in personal care products. "We talked about what the issues would be, because you have to balance efficacy with desirability," Margolis said. "That's something we'll delve into more over the next few months."

Listened to industry updates on hydrosols. Bayliss Ranch has received National Organic Program certification from QAI for manufacturing hydrosols that are single-strength replications of a plant, a process analogous to single-strength juice. "It's like orange juice," Hutchinson said. "You make a concentrate. You [can] then add water to it to bring it back to its single strength and still sell it as organic."