This is a tale of two types of weight-loss products and how the Food and Drug Administration had different responses to similar problems with them. The separate, but not equivalent treatment raises questions about how the FDA operates.

Financiers have discovered what the industry knew all along: Economic hard times have not been bad for makers and sellers of supplements and related wellness products. People are willing to forgo luxuries, even new cars and homes, but not their health.

Following reports in the Washington Post that standards for classifying foods as organic had been relaxed, the U.S. Agriculture Department is launching an audit of its National Organic Program. The Post says that department thinks external scrutiny is needed to improve the integrity and reliability of the program.

This time, the news report is real. We earlier identified News 13 and News 29 as being faux-TV news Web sites that touted the health benefits of resveratrol and acai. Now, CBS News — the real network — is reporting on what appears to be the same Hollywood-based company, FWM Laboratories, in a national broadcast and an accompanying Web story headlined, “Buyer Beware: Web Supplement Scams.”

The confusion surrounding steroid use in professional baseball has taken another strange turn. The Associated Press and New York Times report that eight of the 104 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003 fall into another category.

The FDA has put supplement companies on notice that violators can expect earlier detection and prosecution. The agency has shifted to a policy of less talk and more action. The industry response must be to get better or get out.