Federal Regulation for organic food in Canada

OTA stated it was pleased by the publication of the Canadian Government last month regarding the federal regulation for organic food and livestock feeds. Consumers would be assured now that when purchasing food labelled “Canada Organic”, it was produced in compliance with a strict set of national standards for certification. The regulation would help ease the way for organic trade between provinces and with other countries, since all farmers and manufacturers of organic products were following  the same rules now. OTA’s Executive Director Caren Wolcox stated that in the US, consumer awareness had risen dramatically when the organic rule had been implemented there. Since 1999, Canada had had an organic standard regulated by the organic sector itself. The new regulation means the standards will now be enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. (Picture: Planet Organic/Canada)

OTA welcomes another federal initiative that will have an impact on the organic sector. Canada has become the first country in the world to track organic products moving across its border. Although all import and export commodities are tracked with Harmonization System Codes (HS Codes), they only had been coded by type, but not by method of production. As of January 2007, HS Codes in Canada also add the certified organic designation to HS Codes to track an initial list of 41 imported organic products from dairy to fruits and vegetables. Farms and other businesses would have useful data thanks to the HS Codes, and consumers would know that products labelled organic meet strinct federal requirements, Ms. Wolcox stated.

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