The Alliance for Organic Integrity and Biocertificacion SL (BSL) are pleased to announce their partnership to re-launch and revitalize the much respected The Organic Standard journal in February 2023.
The Organic Standard online journal will provide the organic community with much needed news, analysis, insight and guidance on global organic regulatory, standards and control issues.
As the market for organic products continues to grow and become increasingly mainstream, the organic control community faces the increasing pressure of competition and public scrutiny. Standards, certification and regulation must be effective, rigorous, consistent across the globe, as well as continuously improving, if consumer confidence in the label is to be maintained.
The Alliance and BSL recognized the gap for an information resource that reports on timely issues affecting organic integrity and the organic control community: The Organic Standard aims to fill this gap, providing the information needed to help Strengthen Organic Assurance, Globally.

Please contact info@alliancefororganicintegrity.bio to find out more and receive your first copy free.

The country of Sri Lanka was in the news last year for its economic and political crisis. Part of that was the government’s decision to ban the import of fertilisers and pesticides and to declare the country to be organic. The chaos was used by some opportunists and opponents to say that organic does not work. To provide some perspective…….

The development of organic agriculture in Sri Lanka started in the 1980s. One of the pioneers was Ranjith de Silva, of Gami Seva Sevana, working on neem as an organic input. In the 90s, he was on the IFOAM World Board, advising how IFOAM could assist organic development in the Global South.

The author worked from 1984-85 in converting the first tea plantation in the country, Needwood Estate. As well as going organic, the stakeholders, including importers Simon Levelt in the Netherlands and GEPA in Germany, focused on improving the wellbeing of the estate workers. It became one of the first Naturland foreign projects. The estate developed a multi-strata shade and a dairy industry for its workers – recycling nutrients and producing compost.

During the next 40 years, Sri Lanka has become known as an exporter of organic black tea (and some green tea), spices like black pepper and cinnamon, and pineapple and coconut products. The USDA Organic Integrity Database shows over 300 Sri Lanka entities that are certified for the purpose of exporting to the US. Those same entities and other companies also focus on exporting to Europe or East Asia and the Arabian Gulf. Organic has an estimated 2% share of the agricultural land surface, contributing to its quality-product image and foreign exchange reserves.

If you would like to read the whole article please request a copy from: info@alliancefororganicintegrity.bio

These ecocheques were established in Belgium by the Collective Labour Convention (CAO) No. 98, which was concluded on 20 February 2009 at the National Labour Council, and are still in force today.

Ecocheques are received by Belgian employees to spend on ecological products and services. It is good for employees, because it is an extra something received on the top of their salary, and good for employers, because there are no taxes or social charges to be paid for this contribution to the employee´s total income.

Ecocheques are issued by private companies, such as Monizze or Edenred. Employers who want to grant eco vouchers to their employees must order them from one of the issuing companies – employers pay these companies and the companies send the vouchers to the employees.

Each employee receives a voucher every year that can be used altogether or in different purchases over two years. For example, in a purchase made in a supermarket where organic products are acquired together with non-organic items, the client can pay separately for the organic products with a voucher. The quantity of the voucher varies depending on the salary, to a maximum of 250 € per year.

Shoppers and service providers are not obliged to accept ecocheques, but most of them do; it is a well-established practice in Belgium and recognised by society. Ecocheques are a good way of promoting the consumer’s ‘eco-awareness’, because, once people have become used to buying organic products with their cheque for free, they may want to buy the same product and/or others beyond the quantity received in their ecocheque.

According to Monizze, ecocheques in Belgium are currently granted by more than 83,000 employers to more than 1.24 million employees.

Is it perhaps a sign of the times that we have an article on fraud in what should be a celebratory return-to-publication issue of The Organic Standard, after a brief period away from its readers? “Plus ça change” some may say – fraud has always existed in areas where there is a more valuable commodity that can be replaced with something less valuable in order to deceive, and sadly organic products are not immune.
However, the level of major fraud that organic operators have experienced in recent times is, to say the least, unusual, although over the years there have been major fraud cases such as the ‘Puss in Boots’ case prosecuted by the Italian authorities in 2011, in which over 700,000 tons of product (mainly feed materials) had been fraudulently sold as organic . This was one of the first cases to highlight that over time, supply chains for organic products have become ever more lengthy and complex, with increased opportunities for organised fraud. Now we see a situation where there are lead stories in the mainstream press of substantial fraud. The recently published US National Organic Program Final Rule on Strengthening Organic Enforcement cites in its preamble four major cases of fraud involving grains, oilseeds and pulses that occurred between 2017 and 2022 .
Organic operators themselves have always been concerned about protecting and assuring their supply chain in order to protect their final consumer from purchasing mis-labelled products and to protect their own good name. But now more than ever, they need to protect themselves against considerable financial loss, as well as their reputation for supplying genuine goods. Too many cases of a trader supplying goods labelled as organic that fail testing will result in their purchasers going elsewhere. Even within processing for retail there are indirect losses from the purchase of product that cannot be used; with a failure in the supply chain, the production process is disrupted and the retailer disappointed by late delivery.
The long-term loss may be greater for organic businesses though. If the organic ‘brand’ is no longer respected by consumers, then options such as ‘regenerative’ or ‘natural’, that do not bear the additional costs of compliance with legal standards, are more likely to be chosen.

If you would like to read the whole article please request a copy from: info@alliancefororganicintegrity.bio