Organic Certification

India Organic is a certification mark for organically farmed food products manufactured in India. The certification mark certifies that an organic food product confirms to the National Standards for Organic Products established in 2000.

Those standards ensures that the product or the raw materials used in the product were grown through organic farming, without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or induced hormones. The certification is issued by testing centres accredited by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the National Program for Organic Production of the Government of India.

Even though the standards are in effect since 2000, the certification scheme and hence the certification mark came into existence in 2002.

#Organic Certification in India # Organic Certification in Delhi # Organic certification in Maharashtra

# Organic Certification in Mumbai # Organic Certification

Jaivik Bharat

Just like green & red dots on products to signify if they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in December 2017, introduced the Jaivik Bharat logo to help customers identify authentic organic food.

Food safety regulator FSSAI has permitted small organic producers, having an annual turnover of over Rs 12 lakh, to sell their produce directly to end consumers without certification till April 2020, but can not use ‘Jaivik Bharat logo’ on their products. Organizations are encouraging government to promote the Jaivik Bharat logo and certification process to make organic food more trustworthy and easy to recognize in India.

References

1.  Spices Board of India. ‘Organic certification mark’. Archived August 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
2. APEDA. ‘National Standards for Organic Products.’
3. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. ‘Organic products’.
4.  Jump up to “Ecoworld. Organic Farming in India”. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
5.  “Nabard. Paper on organic farming” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
6.  “Jaivik Bharat: India’s Organic Product Consumer Label”.
7.  “Sell organic produce without certification till 2020, don’t use ‘Jaivik Bharat logo’: FSSAI tells farmers”.
8.  “Govt should promote use of Jaivik Bharat logo to push organic food industry“

South America

Argentina

In Argentina, the Organic certification was implemented in December 2012, through a Ministry of Agriculture resolution. Organic products are labeled with the Orgánico Argentina seal, which is administered by SENASA and issued by four private companies. Organic production is regulated by the 25.127 Act, passed in 1999.

During 2019, 70,446 hectares (174,080 acres) of land were used for organic production certified with the Argentine seal.

Europe

Public organic certification

EU countries acquired comprehensive organic legislation with the implementation of the EU-Eco-regulation 1992. Supervision of certification bodies is handled on the national level. In March 2002 the European Commission issued an EU-wide label for organic food. It has been mandatory throughout the EU since July 2010. and has become compulsory after a two-year transition period.

In 2009 a new logo was chosen through a design competition and online public vote. The new logo is a green rectangle that shows twelve stars (from the European flag) placed such that they form the shape of a leaf in the wind. Unlike earlier labels no words are presented on the label lifting the requirement for translations referring to organic food certification.

The new EU organic label has been implemented since July 2010 and has replaced the old European Organic label. However, producers that have had already printed and ready to use packaging with the old label were allowed to use them in the upcoming two years.

The development of the EU organic label was develop based on Denmark’s organic food policy and the rules behind the Danish organic food label which at the moment holds the highest rate of recognition among its users in the world respectively 98% and 90% trust the label. The current EU organic label is meant to signal to the consumer that at least 95% of the ingredients used in the processed organic food is from organic origin and 5% considered an acceptable error margin.

Private organic certification

Besides the public organic certification regulation EU-Eco-regulation in 1992, there are various private organic certifications available:

• Demeter International is the largest certification organization for biodynamic agriculture, and is one of three predominant organic certifiers. Demeter Biodynamic Certification is used in over 50 countries to verify that biodynamic products meet international standards in production and processing. The Demeter certification program was established in 1928, and as such was the first ecological label for organically produced foods.
• Bio Suisse established in 1981 is the Swiss organic farmer umbrella organization. International activities are mainly focused on imports towards Switzerland and do not support export activities.
• Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is a private standard for organic clothing for the entire post-harvest processing (including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made with organic fibres (such as organic cotton, organic wool etc.). It includes both environmental and social criteria. Established in 2002, the standard is used in over 68 countries and is endorsed by USDA and IFOAM – Organics International. The material must be at least 95% organic, as certified by “recognized international or national standards”. If the material is 70% organic, it can be labeled as “made with organic”.

Czech Republic

Following private bodies certify organic produce: KEZ, o. p. s. (CZ-BIO-001), ABCert, AG (CZ-BIO-002) and BIOCONT CZ, s. r. o. (CZ-BIO-003). These bodies provide controlling of processes tied with issueing of certificate of origin. Controlling of compliancy (to (ES) no 882/2004 directive) is provided by government body ÚKZÚZ (Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture).

France

In France, organic certification was introduced in 1985. It has established a green-white logo of “AB – agriculture biologique”. The certification for the AB label fulfills the EU regulations for organic food. The certification process is overseen by a public institute (“Agence française pour le développement et la promotion de l’agriculture biologique” usually shortened to “Agence bio”) established in November 2001. The actual certification authorities include a number of different institutes like Aclave, Agrocert, COSMEBIO, Ecocert SA, Qualité France SA, Ulase, SGS ICS.

Germany

In Germany the national label was introduced in September 2001 following in the footsteps of the political campaign of “Agrarwende” (agricultural major shift) led by minister Renate Künast of the Greens party. This campaign was started after the outbreak of mad cow disease in 2000. The effects on farming are still challenged by other political parties. The national “Bio”-label in its hexagon green-black-white shape has gained wide popularity—in 2007 there were 2431 companies having certified 41,708 products. The popularity of the label is extending to neighbouring countries like Austria, Switzerland and France.

In the German-speaking countries there have been older non-government organizations that had issued labels for organic food long before the advent of the EU organic food regulations. Their labels are still used widely as they significantly exceed the requirements of the EU regulations. An organic food label like “demeter” from Demeter International has been in use since 1928 and this label is still regarded as providing the highest standards for organic food in the world.^{[citation needed]} Other active NGOs include Bioland (1971), Biokreis (1979), Biopark (1991), Ecoland (1997), Ecovin (1985), Gaa e.V. (1989), Naturland (1981) and Bio Suisse (1981).

Greece

In Greece, organic certification is available from eight organizations approved by EU.^[47] Most of them are BIOHELLAS and the DIO (Greek: Οργανισμός Ελέγχου και Πιστοποίησης Βιολογικών Προϊόντων – ΔΗΩ)

Ireland

In Ireland, organic certification is available from the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Demeter Standards Ltd. and Organic Trust Ltd.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, products sold as organic must comply at a minimum with the Swiss organic regulation (Regulation 910.18). Higher standards are required before a product can be labelled with the Bio Suisse label.

Sweden

In Sweden, organic certification is handled by the organisation KRAV with members such as farmers, processors, trade and also consumer, environmental and animal welfare interests.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, organic certification is handled by a number of organizations, regulated by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), of which the largest are the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers. While UK certification bodies are required to meet the EU minimum organic standards for all member states; they may choose to certify to standards that exceed the minimums, as is the case with the Soil Association.

The farmland converted to produce certified organic food has seen a significant evolution in the EU15 countries, rising from 1.8% in 1998 to 4.1% in 2005. For the current EU25 countries however the statistics report an overall percentage of just 1.5% as of 2005. However, the statistics showed a larger turnover of organic food in some countries, reaching 10% in France and 14% in Germany. In France 21% of available vegetables, fruits, milk and eggs were certified as organic. Numbers for 2010 show that 5.4% of German farmland has been converted to produce certified organic food, as has 10.4% of Swiss farmland and 11.7% of Austrian farmland. Non-EU countries have widely adopted the European certification regulations for organic food, to increase export to EU countries.

Asia and Oceania

Australia

In Australia, organic certification is performed by several organisations that are accredited by the Biosecurity section of the Department of Agriculture (Australia), formerly the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, under the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce. All claims about the organic status of products sold in Australia are covered under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

In Australia, the Organic Federation of Australia is the peak body for the organic industry in Australia and is part of the government’s Organic Consultative Committee Legislative Working Group that sets organic standards.

Department of Agriculture accreditation is a legal requirement for all organic products exported from Australia. Export Control (Organic Produce Certification) Orders are used by the Department to assess organic certifying bodies and recognise them as approved certifying organisations. Approved certifying organisations are assessed by the Department for both initial recognition and on an at least annual basis thereafter to verify compliance.

In the absence of domestic regulation, DOA accreditation also serves as a ‘de facto’ benchmark for certified product sold on the domestic market. Despite its size and growing share of the economy “the organic industry in Australia remains largely self-governed. There is no specific legislation for domestic organic food standardisation and labelling at the state or federal level as there is in the USA and the EU.