Organic Certification
Overview
- Worldwide, the demand for organic products has been expanding rapidly, stimulated by consumer understandings that organic products are safer, healthier and more ethical than conventional products.
- Organic Certification is a system of regulation designed to ensure organic producers, processors and traders to follow strict quality standards and environmentally sound production process to produce and market organic food and other organic agricultural products.
- A certificate is a guarantee issued by an independent, third party certification agency in compliance with specific organic standards which adds the confidence in the market place.
- Organic foods are products of holistic agricultural practices focusing on bio-diversity, soil health, chemical free inputs etc. with an environmentally and socially responsible approach that have been produced in accordance with organic production standards.
- At field level, the product is grown in an organic production system that emphasizes plant and animal health, preventative management of pests, and judicious use of allowed materials.
- The product is further traced and protected from any kind of contamination from the field to final sale, whether it to be a raw agricultural commodity or a multi-ingredient processed product.
“ The label may carry a claim of ‘100 percent organic’, ‘Organic’ (95% to 100%) or ‘Made with organic ingredients’ (at least 70% organic ingredients). The terms of claim may vary as per different country standards. - Any business directly involved in food and agro products production, processing or trading can be certified, including farmers, processors, exporters, retailers (brand owners), re-packers, restaurants, livestock projects, farm input manufacturers (fertilizers/pesticides), wild collection, bee-keeping, mushroom, textile, cosmetic, aquaculture, etc. Input products are called attested/approved for organic agriculture and not called as certified organic.
- Note: Hydroponics, Aquaponics & Aeroponics (Soil-less agriculture) systems production are not allowed in most regulations of organic farming.
Organic standards are sets of requirements that describe what practices can be considered organic. Globally, organic standards and regulations requirements vary from country to country. In India, the National Standards for Organic Production (NSOP) are sets out the standards to be followed in the cultivation/ harvest/ production /processing and trading of organic products. NSOP is implemented under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) which involves the accreditation programme for certification bodies, norms for organic production, promotion of organic farming. The NSOP for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission as equivalent to their country standards for category of unprocessed products, etc. Similarly, US has National Organic Program (NOP) and USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to that of US. The production rules for EU certified product and for inspection and certification have been laid down in the EEC Regulation No. 834/2007 and 889/2008 and in their amendments.
List of Organic Certification Agencies
- Bureau Veritas (India) Pvt Ltd – Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Ecocert India Pvt Ltd – Gurgaon, Haryana
- IMO Control Pvt Ltd – Bangalore, Karnataka
- Indian Organic Certification Agency (INDOCERT) – Aluva, Kerala
- Lacon Quality Certification Pvt Ltd – Thiruvalla, Kerala
- OneCert International Pvt Ltd – Jaipur, Rajasthan
- SGS India Pvt Ltd – Gurgaon, Haryana
- CU Inspections India Pvt Ltd (Formerly Skal International) – Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Uttarakhand State Organic Certification Agency (USOCA) – Dehradun, Uttarakhand
- APOF Organic Certification Agency (AOCA) – Pune, Maharashtra
- Rajasthan State Organic Certification Agency (RSOCA) – Jaipur, Rajasthan
- Vedic Organic Certification Agency (VOCA) – Hyderabad, Telangana
- ISCOP (Indian Society for Certification of Organic Products) – Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
- TQ Cert Services Pvt Ltd – Secunderabad, Telangana
- Aditi Organic Certifications Pvt Ltd – Bangalore, Karnataka
- Chhattisgarh Certification Society, India (CGCERT) – Raipur, Chhattisgarh
- Tamil Nadu Organic Certification Department (TNOCD) – Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
- Intertek India Pvt Ltd – New Delhi
- Madhya Pradesh State Organic Certification Agency (MPSOCA) – Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
- Odisha State Organic Certification Agency (OSOCA) – Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- Natural Organic Certification Agro Pvt Ltd (NOCA) – Pune, Maharashtra
- Fair Cert Certification Services Pvt Ltd – Khargone, Madhya Pradesh
- Gujarat Organic Products Certification Agency (GOPCA) – Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Uttar Pradesh State Organic Certification Agency (UPSOCA) – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Karnataka State Organic Certification Agency (KSOCA) – Bangalore, Karnataka
- Sikkim State Organic Certification Agency (SSOCA) – Gangtok, Sikkim
- Global Certification Society (GCS) – Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
- GreenCert Biosolutions Pvt Ltd – Pune, Maharashtra
- Telangana State Organic Certification Authority (TSOCA) – Hyderabad, Telangana
- Bihar State Seed and Organic Certification Agency (BSSOCA) – Patna, Bihar
The above list of accredited certification agencies and their certification status gets updated on regular basis. The updated list can be accessed through the link provided in our ‘Download’ page.
Basic Requirements & Benefits:
The requirements of organic certification and its standards vary with country of project, country of export and type of project. The basic parameters followed includes but not limited as below:
- Can be traced as organic with certificate from consumer to production level and vice versa
- Avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, additives, aids), genetically modified organisms (GMO), irradiation, fumigation, etc
- Completed conversion (two or more years) of farmland that has been free from chemicals inputs during conversion period
- Keeping detailed inward, production and sales records and their correspondence documents;
- Maintaining strict physical or timely separation of certified organic products from conventional products at levels of transportation, storage, processing and handling
- Undergoing periodic on-site inspections
Organic certification bodies conduct annual inspections to review the on-site activities, related records & their traceability to verify them compliance with the relevant organic standards.
Organic certification is mainly intended to assure the quality, prevent fraud and protect the consumer. It has below benefits:
- Helps in building trust between consumers and organic producers
- Building consumer confidence in the meaning of the organic label
- Implementation on quality requirements to get and/or maintain organic certification
- Improving record-keeping systems
- Having an opportunity to understand organic standards requirements
- Remain updated with the amendments in the standards and market
In India, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced the Jaivik Bharat logo to help customers identify authentic organic food. Any product that has the Jaivik Bharat logo would have to meet specific standards of organic farming. FSSAI has also lunched the portal of Jaivik Bharat with Indian Organic Integrity Database.
Steps for Certification Process:
Step 1 – Assessment of project
Initial requirement before application of any organic project is the assessment of the project for below points:
- Standards against which the project to be certified
- Kind of target market
- Certification seals/marks to use
- If the project follows all the requirements mentioned in the standards to be certified
Step 2 – Application
- All certification agencies have their own formats of application with similar requirement as per required standards. Make your application in the required format of certification agencies.
Step 3 – Cost estimate and Inspection Contract
- You will receive the cost estimate for inspection and certification for the standards you have applied for.
- If you agree with the cost estimate, the certification agency will send you the invoice and the inspection contract.
Step 4 – Payment & Registration
- You need to make the payment. Ideally it is 70-30% or 50-50%, varies with certification agency. Initial payment will be before inspection plan and balance payment will be before issue of certificate. The project is then registered on Tracenet.
Step 5 – Audit/Inspection
- The assigned auditor will conduct the audit at your site for the verification of the information as per application and the documents submitted.
- After audit, the auditor will convey the non-compliance or opportunities for improvement for your project in a written document.
- If necessary, the auditor takes samples for lab analysis along with.
- The auditor will send the detailed audit report to certification department with all findings observed.
Step 6 – Report Review Notification/Certification Decision & its compliance
- The certification department reviews the audit report and the test report and release the Report Review Notification (RRN) or Certification Decision.
- The certification decision or RRN is list of major or minor non-conformities against which the improvement actions needed to be complied in a specified time duration.
Step 7 – Issue of Certificates
- After the compliance in form of improvement actions, the certification department issues the certification valid for 12 months. There will be renewal audit every year.
- In addition of annual regular audit, depending on the project, there can be additional or unannounced audit.
Step 8 – Transaction Certificate (TC)/ Certificate of Inspection (COI)
- For every transaction/sale of organic product, the operator has to request for transaction certificate (TC) or certificate of inspection (COI) with complete detail and documents of the organic material being sold.
- The traceability documents of all the transaction certificates are verified during the issue of transaction certificate and in detail during the next annual/additional audit.