Canada has joined a list of more than 40 countries with national organic regulations.
Four years after the United States Department of Agriculture began overseeing the U.S. organic industry, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is taking on a similar role in this country.
On Dec. 21, the CFIA published the final version of the Organic Products Regulations in the Canada Gazette Part 2, meeting its self-imposed deadline of getting a regulation in place before the end of the year.
The goal was to complete the regulation to meet the European Union’s Dec. 31 deadline for exporting countries to establish a system mirroring the European system. But on the same day that Canada published its regulation, the EU bumped its deadline back one full year.
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Growers, processors and exporters think the regulation will have the same impact the National Organic Program had in the U.S., which was to instill consumer confidence in the industry, leading to an immediate surge in organic sales.
The new rules govern the use of the Canada Organic logo, add a competitive edge and protect consumers.
“Not only will Canadians be protected against deceptive and misleading claims on organic products, but the organic industry’s capacity to respond to international and domestic market opportunities will be strengthened,” said federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl.
The final version of the regulation differs slightly from the original document published Sept. 2.
The biggest change is that the regulation will now be implemented over two years, said Michel Saumur, project manager for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Organic Production System Task Force. That will give producers, processors, certifiers and accreditation bodies time to adapt to the new regime.
Another change is that the Canada Organic logo will only be permitted for use on food products containing 95 percent organic ingredients. Under the original version, it could also be applied to multi-ingredient products that were more than 70 percent organic.
The final version of the regulation also makes it clear that imported products must comply with the Canadian regulation. That was ambiguous under the first draft.
Laura Telford, executive director of Canadian Organic Growers, is pleased with the amended document and praised the CFIA for its speed.
“We see it as a valuable tool. It’s going to be a way for us to help promote organics.”
But like many groups COG feels it could have been even better. Telford’s biggest concern is that the regulation only applies to the use of the Canada Organic logo.
Producers or manufacturers can still get away with misrepresenting their product as organic as long as they don’t use the Canada Organic logo.
“We’re a little leery about that one,” said Telford.
Saumur said Telford is mistaken because the regulation applies to any organic product marketed interprovincially or internationally.
“Once they cross the provincial border they have to comply with the requirements,” he said.
The only gap that exists is for products sold within a province that do not contain the new logo. But those products are subject to existing consumer packaging rules prohibiting fraudulent labelling.
British Columbia and Quebec have provincial regulations in place to police the interprovincial trade of organic products, other jurisdictions will likely follow suit now that the federal regulation is complete.
The next step for the CFIA will be to negotiate agreements with existing accreditation bodies so that the new regulation can start to unfold. Although the regulation will be voluntary for the next two years, Telford expects to see companies start using the Canada Organic logo in 2007.
“A lot of businesses will just hit the ground running. There won’t be a lot of delay in transitioning,” she said.
