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EU Farm Chief Signals Flexibility on Organic Labels

Source: Reuters
25/10/2006

Luxembourg, Oct 25 - Europe's organic farmers look set to gain more flexibility for marketing their products as the EU's farm chief indicated on Wednesday she would consider less restrictive labelling for food ingredients and additives.

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At present, the European Union has two labelling categories for organic farm produce: a "gold standard" where an item contains at least 95 percent organic ingredients, and "emphasised labelling" where there is at least 70 percent.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, had wanted to simplify this to just the 95 percent category, where the entire product would be labelled organic. Below that level, there would be no labelling of specific organic ingredients.

But several countries have objected, saying that instead there should be a third category added for products containing less than 70 percent of organic ingredients, so their organic sectors can develop and become more flexible.

"I hear some (saying) ... that the minimum of 70 percent is not always achievable, while at the same time 'ingredient labelling' below this percentage would create an incentive for food processors to start using available organic ingredients," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said.

"This, in the end, would contribute to facilitating the development of the sector," she told EU farm ministers.

Although Europe saw its organic farming area jump nearly 70 percent in the late 1990s, growth has now slowed in several countries where it has reached a plateau.

In the 25 EU states, the amount of organic farmland is around 5.7 million hectares, or some 3.5 percent of the total agricultural area. Around 175,000 farms are now run organically.

ORGANIC LOGO

Now, EU organic farmers have difficulty selling organic food in different EU countries as there is a patchwork of national and private logos that can be costly and complicated to obtain.

While Fischer Boel wants to encourage greater use of an EU organic logo that the European Commission launched in 2004, her proposal would still allow farmers the freedom to use other labels provided they include the words "EU-organic".

She also opened the door to including the country of origin on labels for organic farm produce, whether it is made inside the EU-25 or imported from outside the bloc. Imports carrying an EU logo would signify that they complied with EU standards.

"I can ... understand the viewpoint of those member states which think the EU logo on imported products without an indication of origin could mislead consumers as regards the origin of the products," she told the ministers.

"If eventually an indication of origin would be demanded by a majority of the member states, I would be prepared to examine this question further ... to facilitate a final agreement."



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