Regulation to Grow Confidence in Organics

2007-10-17

Buying up 50 per cent of Canadian organic grain exports, Europe is considered
Canada’s chief exporting customer in the industry. When the European Union revised its standards on organic products, and indicated that they would refuse all imported goods that didn’t conform, a potentially devastating crisis threatened Canada’s organic grain producers.

According to a 2004 Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada report, if Europe  stopped buying organic grains from Canada, it would mean a loss of about $22.4 million per year for the Canadian organic exporting industry—$20.1 million of that specific to organic grain exporters.

To help preserve this valuable arrangement, members of Canada’s organic farming and processing industry turned to the federal government. The results will soon be felt by all Canadian organic food producers when the Organic Products Regulations, which harmonize Canada’s organic food standards with
international standards, take effect.

The regulations are an annex to the Canada Agricultural Products Act. Ratified in late 2006, after three years of consultative talks led by the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA), the regulations require that organic producers adhere to criteria specified in the Canadian General Standards Board’s (CGSB) national
standards for organic products: Organic Production Systems, general principles and management standards (CAN/CGSB-32.310-2006); and with the corresponding list of organic substances permitted during production (CAN/CGSB-32.311-2006).

The two-year phase-in period for the regulations ends on December 14, 2008.
Michel Saumur, the acting national manager of the Canadian Organics Office at CFIA, says some in the industry were concerned that producers were calling their
products “certified organic” without adhering to the proper criteria. He believes this concern also played a part in developing regulations for organically-grown and processed products.

“The industry itself approached government to set up a regulatory system,” Saumur says. “Consumers were saying they felt they weren’t protected enough against fraudulent and misleading organic claims and they didn’tunderstand what organic was. The industry felt the market was not a level playing field.”

The regulations are expected to aid in consumer identification of organic products through labelling and common language. The related aim of the organic production systems standards is to protect consumers against deception and fraud in the marketplace and unsubstantiated product claims.

Additional aims of the standards are to protect producers of organic products against unsubstantiated claims or misrepresentation of other organic agricultural
products as being organic, and to ensure all stages of production, preparation, storage, transportation and marketing are subject to inspection and comply with the national requirements.

Because the CGSB standards are harmonized with international standards, the market for organic farmers, including those exporting organic grain, can be protected.

Saumur says Canada is working with trading partners to ensure compliance with Canadian requirements. He expects that those discussions will be complete by the time the regulations take effect.

Laura Telford, executive director of the Canadian Organics Growers, says industry hopes exports of Canadian organic food will increase once the new regulations are fully in place. Telford believes European Union countries won’t be able to keep pace with the demand for organic ingredients in processed foods, thus creating an opportunity for Canadian producers.

However, she goes on to explain that imports may be affected when countries realize they need to meet Canada’s requirements in order to label products ‘Canada Organic.’

Telford says farmers outside of Canada will have to meet the Canadian standard if they want their product to carry this label. Farmers who ship product around the globe may have specific fields with different crop practices to meet different international organic standards.

She says the regulation is worth the effort, as she expects it will mean consumers will know what they are purchasing when they choose to buy organic products.

“It will instill more confidence among consumers,” she says. That was one of the main reasons why this regulation was put in place: to ensure increased consumer
confidence in organic products.”

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This article first appeared in volume 34 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2007.  This version has been modified to reflect corrections received following publication but has not been updated since being posting here. If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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