ORGANIC CERTIFICATION - The things you need to know

By Arulmanikandan B - October 10, 2020

Organic Certification:

It is a certification 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.

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".

Aim:

Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. 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. Most certification bodies operate organic standards that meet the National government's minimum requirements.

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 (e.g. 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 or more);

• Keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);

• Maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;

• Undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

The certification process:

In order to certify a farm, the farmer is typically required to engage in a number of new activities, in addition to normal farming operations:

• Study the organic standards, which cover in 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 and crop locations, 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 – A fee is to be paid by the grower to the certification body for annual survellence and for facilitatining a mark which is acceptable in the market as symbol of quality.

• 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 (e.g. 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 & 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 many countries 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 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 of 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.

Regulatory Mechanism for Organic certification in India:

To provide a focused and well directed development of organic agriculture and quality products, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, launched a National Program on Organic Production (NPOP) in the year 2000, which was formally notified in October 2001 under the Foreign Trade & Development Act (FTDR Act).

This provides information on standards for organic production, systems criteria, and procedures for accreditation of Inspection and Certification bodies, the national organic logo and the regulations governing its use.

The standards and procedures have been formulated in harmony with international standards such as those of Codex and IFOAM.

To know more about organic certification click here👇:

Tamil Nadu Organic Certification Department (TNOCD)

APEDA - Annual Charges for Inspection and Certification of Organic Products in India.