EU logo and Soil Association symbol consultation
Background
The new organic regulation EC 834/2007 came into force in January 2009. It requires all packaged organic products produced or processed in the EU to display a generic EU organic logo by July 2010.
We are concerned that the new EU logo will serve no useful function, will force out more valuable information from labels that are already very limited in space, and worse, will actually confuse consumers as to the origin and nature of organic products.
The Soil Association has developed its standards over forty years into an internationally respected benchmark of sustainable and organic production. Its symbol has wide public trust and is recognised as an assurance of the best in organic food and farming. But although Soil Association certification covers over 70% of the UK organic market, use of the symbol is voluntary and so it is less widely applied than it might be. Therefore, it is not currently as well placed as it might to counter both the confusion and the threat that the EU logo is likely to cause.
First consultation and results
In our first consultation we consulted licensees, consumers, retailers and other stakeholders about how we should react to this new situation.
This first consultation received over one hundred responses. About 15% identified themselves as Soil Association members, 70% as consumers, 10% as producers and 5% as processors. Almost 90% of respondents said the new EU logo will not give them confidence that the products had been grown/produced to an organic standard they trusted. Instead they identified the certifier's symbol as providing that assurance. Consumers and Soil Association members expressed considerable surprise that we do not require Soil Association certified products to carry our symbol. 70% of all respondents felt the Soil Association should make this a requirement, though producers and processors were evenly divided about this. In addition, about 80% of respondents would be unhappy if products were labelled with just the EU logo and no symbol of the certifier. These results provide the expected strong indictment of the EU logo. What is surprising is the strong support for the Soil Association to require its symbol on products it certifies.
Second consultation and results
In this consultation, we were seeking further views from you, our stakeholders and in particular licensees and retailers, about the use and design of the Soil Association symbol.