Organic certification

Organic certification is an accreditation process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. Requirements vary from country to country, and generally involve a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping that include:

• avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs (eg: fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc) and genetically modified organisms;
• use of farmland that has been free from chemicals for a number of years (often, three);
• keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
• undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

Certified organic producers are also subject to the same agricultural, food safety and other government regulations that apply to non-certified producers.

It is important to note that not the products are certified but the production process. Organic Certification Standards are Production Standards not Product Standards.

Contents

1 Purpose of Certification 2 The Certification Process 3 Certification & Product Labelling 4 Certification Around the World 5 Certification Issues 6 External links

Purpose of Certification

Organic certification addresses a growing worldwide demand for organic food. It is intended to assure quality and prevent fraud. For organic producers, certification identifies suppliers of products approved for use in certified operations. For consumers, "certified organic" serves as a product assurance, similar to "low fat", "100% whole wheat", or "no artificial preservatives".

It is interesting to note that certification is essentially a marketing initiative, aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Certification standards and organic laws do not affect existing agricultural policies or legislation. Individual certification bodies have their own service marks, which can act as branding to consumers - a certifier may promote the high consumer recognition value of its logo as a marketing advantage to producers, although they are certifying to the identical organic standards as their competitors.

The Certification Process

In order to certify a farm, the farmer is typically required to follow several steps, in addition to normal farming activities:

• Study the organic standards, which cover in very specific detail what is and is not allowed for every aspect of farming, including storage, transport and sale.
• Compliance - farm facilities and production methods must comply with the standards, which may involve modifying facilities, sourcing and changing suppliers, etc.
• Documentation - extensive paperwork is required, detailing farm history and current set-up, and usually including results of soil and water tests.
• Planning - a written annual production plan must be submitted, detailing everything from seed to sale: seed sources, field location, fertilization and pest control activities, harvest methods, storage locations, etc.
• Inspection - annual on-farm inspections are required, with a physical tour, examination of records, and an oral interview.
• Fee - an annual inspection/certification fee (currently starting at $500-$2,000/year, in the US and Canada, depending on the agency and the size of the operation).
• Record-keeping - written, day-to-day farming and marketing records, covering all activities, must be available for inspection at any time.

In addition, short-notice or surprise inspections can be made, and specific tests (eg: soil, water, plant tissue) may be requested.

For first-time farm certification, the soil must meet basic requirements of being free from use of prohibited substances (synthetic chemicals, etc) for a number of years. A conventional farm must adhere to organic standards for this period, often, three years. This is known as being in transition. Transitional crops are not considered fully organic. A farm already growing without chemicals may be certified without this delay.

Certification for other operations than farms is similar. The focus is on ingredients and other inputs, and processing and handling conditions. A transport company would be required to detail the use and maintenance of its vehicles, storage facilities, containers, and so forth. A restaurant would have its premises inspected and its suppliers verified as certified organic.

Certification & Product Labelling

Being able to put the word "organic" on a food product is a valuable marketing advantage in today's consumer market. Certification is intended to protect consumers from misuse of the term, and make buying organics easy. However, the organic labelling made possible by certification itself usually requires explanation.

In the US, federal organic legislation defines three levels of organics. Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods can be labelled "100% organic". Products with 95% organic ingredients can use the word "organic". Both may also display the USDA organic seal. A third category, containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, can be labelled "made with organic ingredients". In addition, products may also display the logo the certification body that approved them. Products made with less than 70% organic ingredients can not advertise this information to consumers and can only mention this fact in the product's ingredient statement. Similar percentages and labels apply in the EU.

Certification Around the World

In some countries, organic standards are formulated and overseen by the government. The United States and the European Union have comprehensive organic legislation, and the term "organic" may be used only by certified producers. In countries without organic laws, government guidelines may or may not exist, while certification is handled by non-profit organizations and private companies.

In the US, the National Organic Program (NOP), was enacted as federal legislation in Oct. 2002. It restricts the use of the term "organic" to certified organic producers (excepting growers selling under $5,000 a year, who must still comply and submit to a records audit if requested, but do not have to formally apply). Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Quality Assurance International (QAI), a private US corporation with operations in many other countries, is the world's largest certification body.

In Canada, the government has published a national organic standard, but it is a guideline only; legislation is in process. Certification is provided by private sector organisations. In Quebec, provincial legislation provides government oversight of organic certification within the province, through the Quebec Accreditation Board (Conseil D'Accréditation Du Québec).

EU countries have had a comprehensive organic legislation since the early 1990s.

In the United Kingdom, organic certification is handled by a number of organizations, of which the largest are the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers. All the certifying bodies are subject to the regulations of the UK Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS), which itself is bound by EU legislation.

In Sweden, organic certification is handled by the private corporation KRAV.

In Japan, the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) was fully implemented as law in April, 2001.

Internationally, equivalency negotiations are underway, and some agreements are already in place, to harmonize certification between countries, facilitating international trade. There also international certification bodies, including the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA), and Ecocert. Where formal agreements do not exist between countries, organic product for export is often certified by agencies from the importing countries, who may establish permanent foreign offices for this purpose.

Certification Issues

Organic certification is not without its critics. Some of the staunchest opponents of chemical-based farming and agribusiness practices, also oppose formal certification. They see it as a way to drive independent organic farmers out of business, and to undermine the quality of organic food.

Originally, the organic food industry was built mainly by small, independent farmers, selling locally. Organic "certification" was a matter of trust, based on a direct relationships between farmers and consumers. Formal certification is viewed by its critics as a barrier to entry for these original producers, by burdening them with increased costs, paperwork, and bureaucracy. It also provides agribusiness with a legal framework which can be used to manipulate regulations, allowing lobbyists to push for amendments, inclusions and exceptions favorable to large-scale production. The feared result is "legally organic" products, produced in ways similar to current conventional food. With organic products sold through supermarket chains, high volume distribution channels would then favor large producers, and the small organic farmer would be effectively squeezed out.

The pressures of certification on the small farmer producing for the local food market are real and significant, particularly for mixed vegetable production. Certified organic seed is expensive, and the selection is limited: currently, organic seed is generally three to five times that of uncertified seed, and the selection is limited to two or three varieties of each crop, compared to dozens of varieties in uncertified seed. Seed producers face the same constraints in certification as do organic farmers, however, unlike farmers, their market is primarily for uncertified seed, so supply could well lag far behind demand for some time. Also, detailed record keeping, from planting to harvest, is designed for larger, single-crop harvests, and becomes onerous for farmers harvesting a dozen or more crops in small quantities on weekly schedules, for markets and on-farm sales. Balancing strict, rule-based certification with these practical concerns necessitates "case-by-case" exceptions for all but the biggest organic farmers to survive within the system. Regardless of the intentions, strict certification in practice greatly favors large-scale production.

Manipulation of certification regulations as a way to dupe the public is a very real concern. In a complaint filed with the USDA in Feb 2004, against a food ingredient producer and its certifying agent (QAI, the world's largest certification agency), charged that tap water had been certified organic, and sold to other organic producers for use in a variety of water-based body care and food products, in order to label them "organic" under US law. Steam-distilled plant extracts, consisting mainly of tap water from the distilling process, were certified organic, and sold as an organic base for products like beverages, soups, and shampoos. These items then claimed the minimum 70% organic content reqiremed for organic labeling. In addition, according to the complaint, the small quantity of plant extracts contained in the "organic base" were not primary ingredients of the range of products concerned.[1] (http://organicconsumers.org/bodycare/links2.cfm)

The word organic is central to the certification (and organic food marketing) process, and this is also questioned by some. Where organic laws exist, producers cannot use the term without certification. Various alternative certification approaches, using terms like "authentic" and "natural" instead of "organic", are emerging. In the US, motivated by the cost and legal requirements of certification (as of Oct. 2002), the farmer-to-farmer association, Certified Naturally Grown, offers a "non-profit alternative eco-labelling program for small farms that grow using USDA Organic methods but are NOT a part of the USDA Certified Organic program."[2] (http://naturallygrown.org/)

A related concern holds that certification is replacing consumer education, and this goes against the essential, holistic nature of organic farming. By reducing complex issues and regulations to a simple, convenient certified organic label, consumers are encouraged to ignore the principles and practices behind organics, leaving the definition of organic farming and organic food open to manipulation.

External links

• USDA National Organic Program (http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/)
• UK Soil Association (http://www.soilassociation.org)