Looking for an OMRI rated beneficial and struggling? Yeah, it's not you. You're meticulous about using only OMRI rated products in your garden or house and now you have pests. No doubt you are filling in an organic system plan, or a certifier has asked what you are putting on the crop, and you go looking for the OMRI seal on a tube of predatory mites. It is not there. It is not on ours, and it is not on anybody's.
The explanation you will usually get is that you cannot list something alive. That explanation is wrong. The actual reason is that releasing beneficials is a practice, and that, in and of itself, cannot be certified.
The short version
- Are they OMRI Listed
- No live predator product is — not from us, not from anyone
- Is that because they are alive
- No. OMRI lists living things by the thousand
- So why not
- There is no substance to review. A release is a practice, not an input
- Can I use them and stay certified
- Yes — releasing predators is named in the rule as a first-line practice
- Why are beneficial nematodes listed then
- They ship as a formulated product with carriers, and a formulation is reviewable
- What do I actually do
- Record the release in your organic system plan and tell your certifier
- Who decides
- Your certifier. Always. This article describes the rule, not your case
“You can't certify something alive” is not the reason
The Organic Materials Review Institute — OMRI, a private nonprofit that reviews products against the USDA organic rule and publishes the ones that pass — lists living organisms constantly. Its own Standards Manual puts them in scope in as many words, under the heading Biological Controls:
OMRI's own scope language
“Living organisms and viruses used as active ingredients. No genetically modified organisms.”
Status: Allowed. Every bacterial and fungal biocontrol you have ever seen with a seal on it — the Bacillus sprays, the Beauveria products, the Trichoderma root drenches — is a living organism that has been reviewed and listed.
So aliveness is not the obstacle. The difference is one of kind rather than one of paperwork.
A release is a practice, not an input
OMRI reviews inputs — things you buy and apply to a crop. A bottle of spray is an input. A bag of fertilizer is an input. Each one is a defined mixture of substances, and reviewing it means asking whether every substance in it is permitted.
Opening a tube and tipping predatory mites onto a leaf is not that. There is no substance being applied. There is an animal being moved from one place to another, where it does what it was already going to do. Nothing about that is a mixture anyone can review, which is why no review exists.
And the rule already covers it directly. The USDA National Organic Program's pest management standard lists, among the mechanical and physical methods a grower may use:
7 CFR 205.206(b)(1)
“Augmentation or introduction of predators or parasites of the pest species.”
That is the entire permission. It is not conditional on a product, a brand or a seal. The practice is named in the regulation, and naming it is what makes it allowed.
This is why the correct phrase is allowed in certified organic production rather than approved. Nothing approves a release, in the way a listing approves a formulation. The rule simply permits the practice outright.
Where a release sits in the order of the rule
Section 205.206 is written as a sequence, and the order it puts things in decides which tool a certifier expects you to have reached for first.
Paragraph (e) does not simply sit alongside the others. It opens with a condition: “When the practices provided for in paragraphs (a) through (d) … are insufficient.”
So a listed, sealed, OMRI-reviewed spray is what the regulation reaches for after the practices have not been enough. Releasing predators is one of those practices. It is not a weaker substitute for the thing with the badge — in the rule's own sequence it comes first, and the badge is on the fallback.
The missing seal on a tube of mites is not a gap in your paperwork. It is the regulation telling you that you are at an earlier and better step than the one that needs seals.
Why beneficial nematodes do carry a seal
If you have bought beneficial nematodes you have probably seen an OMRI Listed seal on the package, which seems to contradict everything above. It does not, and the reason is the same distinction.
Nematodes do not arrive as animals in a tube. They arrive as a formulated product — the organisms suspended in a gel, a clay, a wettable powder or a sponge, mixed with carriers and stabilizers that keep them alive in transit and let them go through a sprayer. That formulation is a defined mixture of substances. It is an input, and an input can be reviewed.
So the line is not drawn between living and not living. It is drawn between something you release and something you mix and apply. Nematodes fall on the input side because of how they are packaged, not because of what they are. How to actually use them is a separate question with its own piece: how to dose beneficial nematodes.
You can watch the same line in the wild. Retailers that sell both will label their nematode range as listed for organic production and make no such claim on the shelf of live predators three clicks away. That is not inconsistency. That is the two paragraphs of the rule showing through the catalog.
What an OMRI seal actually belongs to
Two things about the seal get muddled in product copy.
- A listing belongs to a specific product from a specific company, not to a species or an organism. “Steinernema feltiae is OMRI Listed” is not a meaningful sentence. A named product containing it, sold by a named company, is listed. If a page tells you a species is listed, the page is wrong about how listings work.
- OMRI is private and the listing is voluntary. It is a nonprofit review service, not a government agency, and no part of the organic rule requires a product to be OMRI Listed. It is a widely trusted shortcut that saves a certifier from reviewing a formulation from scratch — genuinely useful, and not the law.
Which is also why the absence of a seal proves nothing on its own. Plenty of perfectly compliant materials are unlisted because their manufacturer never paid to have them reviewed.
None of which answers whether a predator is the right tool for your problem in the first place. That turns on the pest, the room and the plant rather than on paperwork, and it has its own piece: are predatory mites right for you.
What to put in your organic system plan
The practical answer is short, and it is the same answer every time.
- Record the release in your organic system plan. What you released, roughly how much, where, and when. Paragraph (e) requires documentation for substances; keeping the same record for practices is what makes an inspection straightforward.
- Cite the paragraph if you are asked. “Augmentation of predators under 205.206(b)(1)” is the entire justification, and a certifier will recognize it immediately.
- Ask your certifier about the carrier if you want to be thorough. Predators ship in something — bran, vermiculite, buckwheat hulls. In practice this is incidental to the release rather than an applied input, but your certifier is the one who decides that, and they would far rather be asked in advance than at an inspection.
- Do not describe the release as making anything organic. Organic status belongs to a certified operation, not to a treatment. Using a permitted practice keeps you compliant; it does not confer a label.
And the thing not to do: do not go hunting for a listed alternative because the mites lacked a seal. You would be trading a paragraph (b) practice for a paragraph (e) substance — moving down the rule's order, not up it.
If a certifier or a customer asks
Say “allowed,” not “approved.” Nothing approves a release. The regulation permits the practice, which is a stronger and more accurate thing to be able to say.
Never call a species OMRI Listed. Listings attach to a branded product from a named company. A species cannot hold one, and claiming otherwise is the most common error in this corner of the trade.
Treat “100% organic” as a legal term, because it is one. It is a defined USDA labeling category with certification behind it, not a way of saying natural. It does not belong on a bottle of predators, ours included.
Check the seal against the product, not the shelf. A retailer can carry listed and unlisted goods in the same category. The seal is on a SKU, and the OMRI product list is public and searchable if you want to confirm one.
If the answer matters to your certification, get it from your certifier. This article describes what the rule says. Only an accredited certifying agent can tell you how it applies to your operation, and they are the only opinion that counts at an inspection.
Common questions
Are predatory mites OMRI Listed?
No. We searched the OMRI product list for every genus in common commercial use — Amblyseius, Neoseiulus, Phytoseiulus, Orius, Trichogramma, Encarsia, Aphidius, Chrysoperla, Stratiolaelaps and the rest — and found no live-arthropod listing from any supplier. That is not a shortcoming of any particular brand: there is no substance for OMRI to review, because releasing predators is a practice under 7 CFR 205.206(b)(1) rather than an applied input. The list is public, so you do not have to take our word for it.
Can I use beneficial insects and keep my organic certification?
Yes. Augmentation or introduction of predators or parasites of the pest species is named in the organic rule as a permitted mechanical and physical method. Record the release in your organic system plan and tell your certifier, who makes the final call on your operation.
Why are beneficial nematodes OMRI Listed when predatory mites are not?
Because of packaging rather than biology. Nematodes ship as a formulated product — organisms in a gel, clay or powder with carriers — and a formulation is a defined mixture that can be reviewed as an input. A tube of predatory mites is not a formulation, so there is nothing to submit.
Is an OMRI Listed product better than one without a seal?
Not inherently. A listing means a formulation has been reviewed against the organic rule, which is genuinely useful when you are applying a substance. It says nothing about efficacy, and plenty of compliant materials are unlisted simply because nobody paid for the review. For a live predator there is no review to have.
Does OMRI approve or certify my farm?
No. OMRI is a private nonprofit that reviews products. Certification of an operation is done by a USDA-accredited certifying agent, and that is an entirely separate process. An OMRI listing on an input does not certify anything about the farm using it.
Does using predators make my produce organic?
No. Organic status belongs to a certified operation as a whole. Using a permitted practice keeps you inside the rules; it does not by itself let you label anything organic. “100 percent organic” in particular is a defined USDA labeling category under 7 CFR 205.301(a), with certification requirements behind it.
What about the bran or vermiculite the mites come in?
In practice it is treated as incidental to the release rather than as an applied input — it is the transport medium, not a product being spread on the crop. If your certifier wants it addressed, ask them before you release rather than after. They will tell you what they want to see in the plan.
References
- 7 CFR 205.206 — Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard, USDA National Organic Program. Paragraph (b)(1) names augmentation or introduction of predators or parasites; paragraph (e) permits National List substances only where the practices in (a) through (d) are insufficient. The source of this article's central point. ecfr.gov
- 7 CFR 205.301 — Product composition, USDA National Organic Program. Paragraph (a) defines what may be labeled “100 percent organic.” ecfr.gov
- OMRI Standards Manual for NOP Review (amended March 2024), Organic Materials Review Institute. Places living organisms used as active ingredients in scope under Biological Controls, and describes OMRI's role as a nonprofit material review organization. omri.org
- The OMRI Products List is public and searchable, and is the place to check any individual product rather than taking a retailer's word for it — including ours. omri.org
- This article describes what the regulation says. It is not certification advice, and nothing in it substitutes for your own accredited certifying agent, who is the only party that can rule on your operation.
