Certifications Of Organic Food Products

The only way to guarantee that the product is "Organic" is through the certification provided by Organic certification agencies. It is completely illegal to use the term "Organic" without proper certifications.

Produces of organic agricultural products and foods can approach the concerned agencies for getting the Organic Certificates. In our country India, the regulation and certification of organic products is regulated by APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority in accordance with the National Standards For Organic Production. Any business which is directly involved in production of food can get itself certified. Some examples include retailers, seed suppliers, restaurants, food processors.

To get the necessary certificates and papers one has to maintain a set of production standards for storage, growing, packaging, shipping, processing. In case of Organic food certification the following standards must be strictly followed-

Non-use of most synthetic chemical inputs like additives, fertilizers, antibiotics, pesticides etc. Using sewage sludge, irradiation and genetically modified organism is a complete NO. Farmland used for growing should be free from chemicals and pesticides for at least 3 or more years, keeping a detailed sales and production record in written ( audit trail ), undergoing regular periodic on-site inspection and mainlining a strict separation physically of organic and non-organic products.

OUR CERTIFICATION AGENCY IS USOCA


Uttaranchal State Organic Certification Agency
Uttaranchal State Organic Certification Agency is vested with powers to issue certification for the domestic market based on National Standards For Organic production and for European market based on Reg. (EEC) Number 2092/91 and recognition of certification and accreditation system by th USDA-NOP. The USOCA is committed to certifying environment friendly and sound production of food as well as the preservation of natural resources and improved soil health and quality through the sue of organic sustainable farming practices.


APEDA
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985.


National Program For Organic Production
National Program For Organic Production is involved in the accreditation program for norms for organic production, certification bodies and promoting organic farming culture. The NPOP standards for accreditation and production have been recognized by Switzerland and European Commission as equivalent to their set country standards. In the same way, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation at par and equivalent to that of United States.


Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board
Organic Uttarakhand or Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board on the guideline of IFOAM successfully develop a method or technique called ICS or Internal Control System for certification of processing and handling units of farms, small and marginal farmers ( who find it difficult to bear the certification costs individually ). Hence they started the ICS for group certification on low cost. Internal control system is a documented quality assurance system allowing an external certification body to delegate the yearly inspection of individual group members to an identified unit/boy with a certified operator.

All OUR ORGANIC PRODUCTS MEET THE STANDARDS SET BY THE ABOVE AGENCIES.