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- What is Organic Certification?

What is Organic Certification?
What is organic certification?
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.
What about Brexit and Organic Certification?
From 1st January 2021 there will be changes to importing, exporting and labelling of organic products. For more detailed guidance and information on how these changes might affect your business please visit our Brexit homepage.
Find out how you can prepare for BrexitWho 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
- 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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Why Certify With Us?
Find out about the wide range of business support we offer.
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Wanting to go organic?
Get in touch with our dedicated team to find out more about organic certification for your business
