Organic certification is the only way to guarantee that the product is ‘Organic’. Producers cannot use the term ‘Organic’ legally without certification. To bypass this legal requirement for certification, various alternative approaches, using currently undefined terms like “natural” instead of “organic”, are emerging.
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In India, APEDA regulates the certification of organic products as per National Standards for Organic Production. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. Requirements involve a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping that include avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge; 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 USDA Organic Certification
The USDA organic certification verifies that all United States Department of Agriculture regulations, requirement and specifications are adhered to. It covers a wide range of detailed monitoring and control measures. It is one of the most comprehensive and demanding certification systems to ensure absolute commitment to Organic Certification qualifications as established by the United States Department of Agriculture.
The National Programme Involves
The national programme involves the accreditation programme for certification bodies, norms for organic production, promotion of organic farming. The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland as equivalent to their country standards. Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to that of US.
The Canada Organic
The Canada Organic Regime is the Government of Canada’s response to requests by the organic sector and consumers to develop a regulated system for organic agricultural products. The Organic Products Regulations define specific requirements for organic products to be labelled as organic or that bear the Canada Organic logo. The regulations came into effect on June 30, 2009. All organic products bearing the Canada Organic logo or represented as organic in inter-provincial and international trade must comply with the Organic Products Regulations.
OneCert International Organic Standards
OneCert International Organic Standards includes the major international standards for organic certification.
FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration
FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration, a government agency responsible for the safety of food, dietary supplements, human drugs, vaccines, blood products and other biologicals, medical devices, radiation-emitting electronics, cosmetics, veterinarian products and tobacco products being sold or manufactured in the United States. The FDA also inspects and enforces regulations related to these industries.
