Organic Food Labelling and Certification
Manufacture, pack, sell etc., of organic food:
No person shall manufacture, pack, sell, offer for sale, market or otherwise distribute or import any organic food unless they comply with the requirements laid down under these regulations.
Applicability of the systems:
- The organic food offered or promoted for sale shall also comply with all the applicable provisions of one of the following systems, namely: –
- National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP);
- Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India).
- Any other system or standards as may be notified by the Food Authority from time to time.
- The Organic food which is marketed through direct sales by the small original producer or producer organisation, as determined by the Food Authority from time to time, to the end consumer shall be exempted from the provisions of the systems referred in sub-regulation (1).
- Aggregators or Intermediaries who collect organic food from small original producer or producer organization and sell it to the end consumer directly, are exempted from the provisions of the systems referred in sub-regulation (1) and they shall maintain records of traceability and comply with any of the provisions of the systems mentioned in sub-regulation (1) and organic food shall not carry Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s organic logo.
Labelling:
- Labelling on the package of organic food shall convey full and accurate information on the organic status of the product. Such product may carry a certification or quality assurance mark of one of the systems mentioned in regulation 4 in addition to the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s organic logo.
- All organic foods shall comply with the packaging and labelling requirements specified under the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 in addition to the labelling requirements under one of the applicable systems mentioned in regulation 4.
- In-conversion products under PGS-India may be labelled as ‘PGS-Green’ and may also be labelled as ‘In-conversion to organic’ and the conversion products under NPOP may be labelled as ‘In-conversion to organic’ and shall mention the year of conversion and such in-conversion products shall not carry Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s organic logo.
Traceability:
Traceability shall be established up to the producer level as applicable under the systems mentioned in regulation 4 and it shall include any other requirements prescribed by the Food Authority to maintain the organic integrity of the food product.
Requirement to comply with the provision of the other regulations made under the Act:
Without prejudice to the provisions of these regulations, all organic food shall comply with the relevant provisions, as applicable, under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. The organic food shall also comply with relevant provisions, as applicable under the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011 except for residues of insecticides for which the maximum limits shall be 5% of the maximum limits prescribed or Level of Quantification (LoQ) whichever is higher.
Display:
The seller of organic food either exclusively or as part of his retail merchandise shall display such food in a manner distinguishable from the display of non-organic food.
Import of organic food:
- Organic food imports under bilateral or multilateral agreements on the basis of equivalence of standards between National Programme for Organic Production and the organic standards of the respective exporting countries shall not be required to be recertified on import to India subject to their compliance with the provisions of the Act, the rules and regulation made there under.
- The organic food consignments referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall be accompanied by a transaction certificate issued by an Accredited Certification Body covered under the terms of the equivalence agreement.
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