As of 1 January 2020, there will be new EU rules on producing and labelling organic products. The existing legislation was revised and strengthened in all areas of the value chain: from organic farming, over production, certification of operators (producers, processors, distributors) to trade and control systems. In this way, the EU seeks to harmonise and simplify rules and to improve consumers’ confidence in organic products and in the EU’s organic production logo.
French retailer Carrefour played a role in the revision of the EU organic rules. With its “Black Supermarket” concept, Carrefour offered species of fruit and vegetables grown from farmers’ seeds that were not legally allowed to be sold because of EU Law.
The campaign highlighted the absurdity of the EU’s Official Catalogue of Authorized Species, which held that that 97 percent of seed varieties, including those grown by two million farmers, were actually illegal.
Carrefour signed a five-year commitment with farmers as part of the campaign, and a result the EU ratified the new rules on organic production and labelling in May of this year, reauthorizing the sale of farmers’ seeds. For this highly effective campaign, Carrefour won the Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix at Cannes (Source: AdAge)
For organic shelf-stable products like biscuit, chocolate or cake, product managers should check all ingredients on the ingredient list on compliance. For example, if a biscuit contains fruit pieces, only organic or natural X flavourings in the fruit pieces are allowed.