Monday 5 July 2010

New Logo for Organic Foods

I hope you find the following useful.

The last two decades have seen a growing interest in organic farming and the impact that agriculture has on the environment in general. The result has been a growth in the organic food industry. However, do you ever wonder what the actual meaning of “organic” is when it comes to food labelling? If so, it seems that you are not alone.

There has been an attempt in many countries in recent years to draw up a definition of the term “organic”. And, here in the UK as a member of the EU we are protected by laws from those who may try to use the term incorrectly.

Organic foods should have been cultivated avoiding the use of synthetic fertilisers or pesticides. However this cannot be 100% guaranteed because there could be possible contamination of the surrounding air, water or land. Nevertheless, every effort is made to ensure this is minimised. This includes the compliance of those handling the food, the processors and the retailers.

Within the European Union organic legislation is the same from country to country. It requires that any ingredient whether produced in the EU or entering it from elsewhere adheres to the same high standard. Other countries may have similar standards to the EU but on the other hand, they may not. There may even be differences within the same country.

There are essentially two different categories:
1) organic products which are those containing 95% or more organic agriculture (the 95% is calculated using product weight). For example organic flax seed oil.
2) Products which contain less than 95%. In which case, whilst individual ingredients can be described as organic, the entire product cannot. Eg it could say “contains organic apple juice”.

In Britain standards are set by DEFRA. All products need to be certified by one of the bodies which is registered with DEFRA. These include groups such as the Soil Association or the Organic Food Federation. DEFRA only lists 8 countries outside of the EU has having equivalent standards to the EU – and perhaps it should be noted that the USA is not one of these. Any country outside of these 8 elite countries needs to obtain the express permission from DEFRA before the product can be imported.

However, with the aim of making things even clearer, from this July, an organic symbol will start to appear on any EU certified organic products.



In addition to this logo, you should see the logo of the certifying body eg the Soil Association and a country identification number. For the UK this will be GB-ORG-04. The source of the ingredients will also be listed on the food label. The sources may be described as “EU-Agriculture”; “Non-EU Agriculture”, or noted by the name of the actual country.

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