Quality assurance

The sector has developed, by and large, without certification. The first attempt in certification was initiated in 1999 by an organic wholesaler, who used the certifier, KRAV, from Sweden. However, the company found that while certification secured some market recognition, the additional documentation, control procedures, expenses and fees did not facilitate any additional market margin, and they discontinued their certification three years later. Self claim organic products continue to be able to similarly retail alongside certified products at up to 300% more than conventional produce. Consumers are not completely happy with the situation; concerns have been raised about the authenticity of organic products at public seminars, newspaper articles, as well as on internet chat sites. Attempts by the private sector and government to address the issue, however, have not been very successful to date.

Responding to public and NGO demands, the Malaysian Government published National Organic Standards (MS1529) in 2001. The Department of Agriculture (DoA) later established an organic certification programme, Scheme Organic Malaysia (SOM) for the domestic market, which became effective in December 2003. The scope of the certification programme, presently limited to crop production, is offered free of charge to farmers. Since 2004, 70 farmers have reportedly applied for the programme, but only seven have been certified so far. The DoA is working on expanding the scope of SOM to cover processing certification. Meanwhile operators can seek certification by foreign certification bodies (CBs) and a few take this option. Up to seven foreign CBs operate in Malaysia, offering certification to the EU Regulation, US National Organic Program (NOP) and Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS) as well as foreign private standards. Though efficient and effective for exports, the certifications are relatively expensive and not suited for producers, processors and importers targeting only the local market.

Certified final products imported into Malaysia are clearly marked as such on their respective product labels. Importing from all over the world, the Malaysian market is thus flooded with numerous certification marks, most of which wholesale and retail staff are not always able to explain correctly. Processors of imported certified bulk items often claim their repacked items are certified, although their repacking operations are not certified. Even when they want to, processors of multi-ingredients from different countries and certification systems face difficulty in the choice of certification body unless they simplify their supply sources.

ACO OPERATORS’ SUCCESS

Five small to medium organic operators, all certified by the Australian Certified Organic (ACO), have been recognised for their innovation and product quality on a large-scale national platform as finalists, and three have been winners in 2008 Food Challenge Awards.

Other contestants in the awards are giant food companies such as Nestle, Kraft and Heinz, but ACO certified operators dominated the finalists’ list, including the hotly contested category, ‘Health and Wellness’ section, by filling half of the ten places in the final.