Principles :
Traditionally sold on markets or specialist shops, "organic" products have, in recent years, appeared in the mass retail market and their presence is constantly growing to meet consumer demand.
Organic farming is based on three essential principles: respect for the earth, respect for animals, respect for consumers.
To summarise, the major regulations governing organic farming are as follows:
- farming banning the use of artificial chemical products
- crop rotation, choice of appropriate seeds for the climate and land
- animal food produced by organic farming, ban on using drugs to accelerate the animal's growth, choice of local breeds
- Animals are fed with organic food, preferentially cared for by homeopathy, phytotherapy and aromatherapy and raised in conditions guaranteeing access outdoors as well as maximum living space.
Regulations :
Foodstuffs can only be organic if produced in compliance with national and/or community regulations concerning organic farming.
Within the European Union, community regulations are applied to non-processed vegetal farm produce such as cereals, vegetables, fruit and pulses.
They also concern products for human consumption, mainly composed of one or several vegetal ingredients such as bread, biscuits, etc. Animal products (meat, dairy products, eggs, etc.) are not yet concerned by these community regulations at least as long as their production principles and inspection rules have not yet been introduced in the regulations. They are however governed by national regulations (1980 Act and its application decree dated 1996). In France, all organic producers are subjected to very strict specifications according to the type of production.
On 1st January 2000, there are 13 specifications shared by the countries of the European Union corresponding to the following list of products: Fruit and vegetables, honey, dairy cows, sheep, pigs, poultry, eggs, rabbits, milk and dairy products, beef, ewe and goat dairy products, animal food, meat preparations.
Certification :
Certifying organisations make sure that farmers wishing to produce organic food strictly comply with their specifications. All these verification organisations qualified to grant organic certification are approved by the French State via the Ministry of Agriculture.
Ecocert is the most well known, it certifies around 80% of French products. These organisations also include NPC, AFAQ, Qualité-France, Qualité-Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Agrocert, Certipaq, Aclave and Ulase. The producer chooses the verification organisation.
The name of the certifying organisation must be featured on the packaging of products sold under the organic label with the words "issu de l'agriculture biologique".
Articles extracted from Bio-attitude
Organic products
Organic farming
