Organic Quality Standards
The organic movement has moved beyond its niche to be accepted and followed worldwide. This global acceptance has been all due to universally recognized and accepted organic standards. IFOAM has been in the forefront of these standards development initiatives across the world. IFOAM?s Organic Guarantee System being the first initiative anywhere in the world, unites the organic world through a common system of standards, verification and identity. The IFOAM Basic Standards provide a framework for certification bodies and standard setting organizations worldwide to develop their own certification standards and cannot be used for certification on their own. Together the IFOAM Basic standards for Organic Production and Processing (IBS) and the IFOAM Accreditation Criteria for Bodies Certifying Organic Production and Processing (IAC) constitute the IFOAM Norms. The IFOAM seal is a market oriented mark of compliance. The mark ensures wholesalers, retailers and consumers that a product and its producers are organically certified within the IFOAM Organic Guarantee System. However this being a private initiative, i.e., outside the laws of the government, could not become well recognized mark among the consumers in the world. The second most ambitious initiative has been Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for organic. The Codex Alimentarius commission implements the FAO/WHO Food Standards Program, the purpose of which is to protect the heath of consumers and ensure fair trade practices. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally adopted food standards. It also includes provisions of an advisory nature in the form of codes of practice, guidelines and other measures. It is intended to guide and promote the elaboration and establishment of definitions and requirement for foods, to assist their harmonization and in doing so, facilitate international trade. These guidelines define organic production and labelling in a manner that protects the consumer from products that falsely claim to be organic. In India, CFTRI Mysore has been designated as nodal Codex Food Laboratory. This is a joint project of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India and CSIR. However even these Standards have also not been able to gain the consumer confidence, as compared to Country Standards. As the sector started to grow bigger, in time many Governments across the world too formulated their own standards, which were in sync with each other. Some of the most prominent among them are; National Organic Program USA: In the past organic farming practices were haphazardly regulated by a wide variety of governmental and private certification programs. To bring about uniformity, the Congress of the United States passed the Organic Food Production Act in 1990. The Act mandates the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish national standards governing the methods of organic production. The final rules which were effective from February 2001 established the National Organic Program (NOP) as an arm of the USDA. This program has been developed to facilitate domestic and international marketing of fresh and processed organic food, and assure consumers that such products meet consistent, uniform standards. The regulations among other things prohibit the use of genetically modified ingredients, irradiation to decontaminate products, and sewage sludge as fertilizers for any food sold as an organic product. As of today the Organic Seal of NOP is one of the most recognized mark among the consumers, not only in the US but also across the world. All Morarka Products are also certified as per USDA ? NOP Standards. In Europe, initially most organic trade was based on Private Standards. There were many private agencies offering organic certification services, mostly based on IFOAM Standards. Their marks/logos were promoted and recognized by the consumers. However, when the trade was better regulated, European Commission came forward to formulate uniform standards applicable to all the countries in Europe. These were known as EU 2091/92 standards for organic and a new Seal/Logo was extensively promoted and recognized. The EU standards achieved equivalence with US standards as well as with the ISO 65 norms. In some countries in Europe, like in UK, even today they have better recognized private standards by ?Soil Association?. At Morarka Organic the organic products are certified as per EU norms as well. In Japan the growth of organic market was also linked to the regulations introduced by the government. In Japan they were notified as JAS standards. Since at Morarka Organic only few products are being exported in to Japan, it has some of its products presently certified as per JAS standards. In India, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is responsible for setting standards for export of organic produce. APEDA has been the designated agency to implement the Organic Standards. The National Programme for Organic Production was launched in March 2000. It contained Standards for organic products exports. The NPOP standards have mostly been based on provisions contained in Standards prescribed by Agencies such as IFOAM, EU regulations and Codex. The Indian NPOP Standards have also achieved equivalence with US & EU standards. All certification agencies operating in India have to be necessarily accredited, to certify as per NPOP standards, and thus all the projects and products from Morarka Organic are certified so. NPOP standards being export standards for long, from the Year 2009, the Indian NPOP standards have now also been recognized for domestic markets, after being notified under the Agmark Act, by the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India.