Any food product sold as ‘organic’ in the EU has to comply with a set of Standards. Organic certification is a requirement to demonstrate a product or operation has met these legal standards. The Soil Association symbol is a recognised and trusted mark of organic certification internationally, and as a certification body we deliver certification to some of the highest organic standards.
Who is organic certification for?
If you’re processing or marketing an organic food or drink product, EU regulations require you to be licensed. The term ‘processing’ includes:
manufacturing
packing or re-packing
storing
importing (from non-EU countries)
wholesaling/trading
labelling organic products
selling loose produce or zero waste operations
Operations such as warehousing, storage and distribution will also need to be licensed if handling organic products.
Outside of the UK? If your business enterprise is based outside of the UK, you’ll primarily need to be certified with the EU equivalent certification body in your country in order for us to certify your products as organic.
What do organic standards cover?
Organic standards look at all aspects of organic food manufacturing and production, storage and sales. The Soil Association Certification organic standards cover the EU’s organic regulations (EC 834/2007 & EC 889/2008) and include some additional, higher standards in some key areas e.g. livestock production, GM, additives and packaging.
Certification involves us making an assessment of your operation to check how you meet the standards. It is therefore important that you have read the standards and are familiar with them. If you have any questions, please contact us, we’re more than happy to answer them.
What’s involved?
There are some key areas that you’ll need to consider when thinking about applying for certification, such as:
Your supply chain
Record keeping
Labelling your products
Product composition
Separation when processing and storing
Importing from outside the EU
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