In Organic We (Can Finally) Trust

The end of this month marks the introduction of regulations long overdue in the food industry. Effective June 30, 2009 mandatory certification will be required for all agricultural products that are represented as being organic. This includes all products for import, export & inter provincial trade. So what's been going on until now? Well, the new regulations are a revision to the Canadian Organic Standard for agricultural products. Up until now there have been a number of regulatory bodies in Canada that have provided certification for producers of organic products but, there was no one in charge of the regulatory bodies, which is equivalent to having a number of regulators each following their own rules and defining their own criteria for certification. And that translates into consumers choosing from products all claiming to be organic, but that all look very different even containing different certified logos. Sound like a mess? It certainly has been!

An update to the current system was necessary to help consumers recognize naturally grown, pesticide & hormone free products. By developing and regulating a single official logo, consumers can have confidence that what they are purchasing is in fact organic, and meets the same standard as any other organic product available for sale in Canada. Interestingly, the request to revise the appearance of logo came form feedback received by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) from the Canadian organic industry requesting the removal or revised appearance to prevent consumer confusion as to the origin of products with the logo.

Effective June 30th products that are certified in accordance with the Canadian regulations, including an organic content of 95% or higher will be able to contain the standardized organic product legend (pictured right). Imported products will also require meeting the organic requirements. Products will still receive certification from one of a number of certification bodies, but under the revision all of the certification bodies in the industry will be regulated by the Canada Organic Regime (COR) via the authority of the CFIA.

While I am pleased that the revised regulations are coming into effect, I can't help but be disappointed that it has taken so long! I mean, I know people that swear by organic products and have purchased nothing but for years. In 2008, 47 countries had fully implemented organic regulations, while Canada was in the company of 12 other countries that were only at the stage of implementing the regulations. What a shame! However,from this I hope something can be learned. With organic products under our belt, we mustn't pat ourselves on the back and think its over. The daunting task of forming national regulations for natural health products needs to be tackled still and it's an even BIGGER undertaking! How long will that take?