As of December 14, 2008, The Canada Organic Regime is the Government of Canada’s response to requests by the organic sector and consumers to develop a regulated system for organic agricultural products. The Organic Products Regulations (the Regulations) define specific requirements for organic products to be labelled as organic or that bear the Canada Organic Logo.
The Canada Organic Regime has been developed to:
- Protect consumers against misleading or deceptive labelling practices;
- Reduce consumer confusion about the definition of organic;
- Facilitate the access of Canadian organic products to foreign markets that require regulatory oversight; and
- Support further development of the domestic market.
As of December 14, 2008, any product with an organic claim must comply with the requirements of the Organic Products Regulations.
- Only products with organic content that is greater than 95% may be labelled as: “Organic” or with the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”.
- Multi-ingredient products with 70-95% organic content may have the declaration: “% organic products.” These products may not use the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”.
- Multi-ingredient products with less than 70% organic content may only contain organic claims in the product’s ingredient list. These products may not use the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”.
Certified organic products must also bear the name of the certification body that has certified the product as organic.
This is a really good step that the Canadian government is taking to protect consumers because of the high prices of organic food. Because of this new regime, we can be 100% sure that the food we are purchasing are in fact organic and worth the price. Go Green!
Source: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/orgbio/stainte.shtml
