Call for single accreditation for world organic products

The Borneo Post, 31 October 2008

SANTUBONG: A single accreditation system needs to be worked out if there is to be harmonised standards in recognising agriculture products throughout the world.

Certification Alliance management committee member Vitoon Panyakul said at the present exporting countries had to adapt to the accreditation system set by the importing countries in order to market their products.

“In this situation the exporting countries have to follow what has been decided by the importing country and this is a form of colonisation,” he told The Borneo Post at the ‘Organic Asia – The Way Forward’ conference here yesterday.

He said because systems varied between countries setting up one realistic system which could be accepted by everyone was the best.

The International Task Force on Harmonisation and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture in recent months had proposed for such a system to be drafted, but then again it was important to know how many countries would be willing to take the system, said Vitoon.

According to him, the European Union has shown interest in this matter.

Earlier Vitoon delivered a talk on regional collaboration in certification and explained the aim of Certification Alliance.

Certification Alliance is a private institute providing integrated services to small scale produces.

“Let’s say your country wants to help your producers sell products to few countries, first of all your certification must be recognised by importing countries. And to send to many countries, you must be recognised by as many countries.

“In this platform, one country can borrow the certification from another country, but then again this involves trust,” he said.

According to him, to gain trust and ensure quality of the products, the alliance holds regional training among participating countries using a single module.

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.