Certified organic products

Hansson I, Hamilton C, Ekman T and Forslund K (2000) Carcass quality in certified organic production compared with conventional livestock production . Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-Infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 47, 111-120. 

Certified organic production makes the use of cut and carry forage from free communal ... 

In-pack pasteurisation. In-pack pasteurisation is normally reserved for dilutable products that are made without preservatives. Unless there are particular circumstances that demand a preservative-free product (e.g. manufacture of a certified organic product), preservatives should always be used in dilutables because of the way the drinks are used and stored. A dilutable without preservatives is very vulnerable to microbial contamination, which can lead to fermentation and possibly bottle bursting. Dilutables without preservative must be labelled to encourage refrigerated storage and short shelf life. 

Because so many foods are contaminated with multiple chemicals, this guide should be used to choose foods with the minimum number of different synthetic chemicals or to identify those foods that should be purchased as a USD A certified organic product. However, even if an organic product is chosen, it can still contain banned pesticides and industrial chemicals unless it is carefully produced. Therefore, it is important to remember that organic food producers do not analyze their products and inform the consumer as to the chemical mixtures in their products (both pesticides and industrial chemicals). Because the consumer is not provided with this information, individuals have two basic choices. 

In addition, the lack of local certification bodies imposes significant constraints and risks to organic agriculture in Africa. They increase the costs of certified organic production, as certifiers have to be flown in. So far, only Tunisia has its own European-standard certification bodies (Parrot and van Elzakker, op. cit.). The costs of certification have to be seen as investment costs and hence risks, for if the investment costs are not amortised by the revenues, e.g. in the case of harvest failures or a sudden shortfall of market outlets, investments in certification are lost and hence the respective farmers are prone to a significant investment risk. 

In addition, from 1 January 1998, every certification body operating within the EU, and also certifying organic products in third countries exported to the EU, must demonstrate... 

The issue of standards is further complicated inasmuch as within mainland UK there are three organisations that can certify organic production under UKROFS, each with their own requirements and standards. They are ... 

During the three-year transition to certified organic production, records should be kept on all substances applied to the land. An inspector will visit the farm in the third year (or the year the farmer anticipates selling his or her crop as organic) and review all records, crops, storage bins, and equipment used on the farm to assure compliance... 

It is free of charge. Anybody who produces certified organic products may use it at no additional cost. 

In early 2002, about 50 farmers who had withdrawn from certified organic production, were asked about their motives for their decision. 

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