more...

Organic Quality Standards

The organic movement has moved beyond its niche to be accepted and followed worldwide. This global acceptance has been all due to universally recognized and accepted organic standards.

IFOAM has been in the forefront of these standards development initiatives across the world. IFOAM’s Organic Guarantee System being the first initiative any where in the world,unites the organic world through a common system of standards, verification and identity. The IFOAM Basic Standards provide a framework for certification bodies and standard setting organizations worldwide to develop their own certification standards and cannot be used for certification on their own.  Together the IFOAM Basic standards for Organic Production and Processing (IBS) and the IFOAM Accreditation Criteria for Bodies Certifying Organic Production and Processing (IAC) constitute the IFOAM Norms.The IFOAM seal is a market oriented mark of compliance. The mark ensures wholesalers, retailers and consumers that a product and its producers are organically certified within the IFOAM Organic Guarantee System. However this being a private initiative, ie outside the law’s of the government, could not become well recognized mark among the consumers in the world.

The second most ambitious initiative has been Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for organic. The Codex Alimentarius commission implements the FAO/WHO Food Standards Program, the purpose of which is to protect the heath of consumers and ensure fair trade practices. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally adopted food standards. It also includes provisions of an advisory nature in the form of codes of practice, guidelines and other measures. It is intended to guide and promote the elaboration and establishment of definitions and requirement for foods, to assist their harmonization and in doing so, facilitate international trade. These guidelines define organic production and labeling in a manner that protects the consumer from products that falsely claim to be organic.In India, CFTRI Mysore has been designated as nodal Codex Food Laboratory. This is a joint project of Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India and CSIR. However even these Standards have also not been able to gain the consumer confidence, as compared to Country Standards.

As the sector started to grow bigger, in time many Governments across the world too formulated their own standards, which were in conformity with each other.  Some of the most prominent among them are;

National Organic Program USA; In the past organic farming practices were haphazardly regulated by a wide variety of Governmental and private certification programs. To bring about uniformity, the Congress of the United States passed the Organic Food Production Act in 1990. The Act mandates the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish national standards governing the methods of organic production.The final rules which were effective from February 2001 established the National Organic Program (NOP) as an arm of the USDA. This program has been developed to facilitate domestic and international marketing of fresh and processed organic food, and assure consumers that such products meet consistent, uniform standards. The regulations among other things prohibit the use of genetically modified ingredients, irradiation to decontaminate products, and sewage sludge as fertilizers for any food sold as an organic product. As on today the Organic Seal of NOP is one most recognized mark among the consumers, not only in the US but also across the world. All the Morarka Products are also certified as per USDA – NOP Standards.

In the Europe, initially most of the organic trade was based on Private Standards. There were many private agencies offering organic certification services, mostly based on IFOAM Standards. There mark/logo was promoted and recognized by the consumers. However, when the trade was better regulated, European Commission came forward to formulate uniform standards applicable to all the Countries in Europe. These were known as EU 2091/92 standards for organic and a new Seal/Logo was extensively promoted and recognized. The EU standards achieved equivalence with US standards as well under ISO 65 norms. In some countries in Europe, like in UK, even today they have better recognized private standards by ‘Soil Association’. At Morarka the organic products are certified as per EU norms as well.

In Japan the growth of organic market was also linked to the regulations introduced by the government. In Japan they were notified as JAS standards. Since at Morarka only few products are being exported in to Japan, it has some of its products presently certified as per JAS standards.

In India the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is responsible for setting standards for export of organic produce. APEDA has been the designated agency to implement the Organic Standards. The National Program for Organic Production was launched from March 2000. It contained Standards for organic products exports. The NPOP standards have mostly been based on provisions contained in Standards prescribed by Agencies such as IFOAM, EU regulations and Codex. The Indian NPOP Standards have also achieved equivalence with US & EU standards. All certification agencies operating in India has to be necessarily accredited to certify as per NPOP standards, and thus all the projects and products from Morarka are certified so. NPOP standards being export standards for long, from the Year 2009, the Indian NPOP standards have now also been recognized for domestic markets, after being notified under Agmark Act, by Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India.


Traceability

World over there is a demand for better quality food. Some how all the health problems suffered by humans in some way are getting linked either to the food itself or its quality? For very long regulators and scientists managed quality, during its processing, packing and retailing/serving. But after 40-50 years of this kind of quality management, there is a new thinking regarding the need for quality management to go beyond ie right up to cultivation itself. In a way organic philosophy meets this need, and has also been accepted as the ultimate norms for quality management.

But for other types of conventionally produced food, where the quality management rigor is not as strong as in case of organic, the new concept of ‘traceability’ is being introduced as an assurance for the quality. This means every food product that is on the shelf of a retail and or food service outlet, the consumer should be able to find the source and the place where it has originated. The regulators worldwide are now working hard in association with producers to deliver this assurance. In case of organic, this assurance is inbuilt in the system of process monitoring and verification. Possibly this is also one reason ‘why organic certification has been such an expensive affair, all these years’.

At Morarka, a unique system of process verification based on IT application has been developed. This system ensures complete record maintenance on an ‘Online Platform’ for all the producers, with up to date records of all the operations being carried out at the organic farm. Both paper records as Farm Diary as well as electronic records are maintained through farm level supervisors. There is also a two tier verification process by the inspectors at Morarka, and then there is third party verification by the Certification Agency. This imparts highest level of authenticity to the organic process verification.

The electronic records also provide complete information for all the producers, crops and lots maintained batch wise with the click of a button on a computer. This means for every pack sold by Morarka the interested consumer can get complete information about the farmer, crop season, quantity of production, batch wise quality and so on. The true guarantee of quality desired by any consumer any where in the world.

Quality Management

The kind of demands & expectations consumershas for quality for the food products world over Organic is just one part of it. In addition, there are many others as well, in fact numerous other standards of quality and regulations are also applicable to meet the consumer demands. Some of them may be desired quality parameters affecting the buying decisions, but some are statutory and are legally binding. While many food safety, hygiene, contamination and adulteration standards are legally binding, the size, color, aroma, taste like parameters also known as product specifications determine the consumer preferences.

At Morarka, the quality is managed like a religious ritual. Every effort is made to deliver the very best to the consumers. Both statutory provisions governing the quality of product as well as other parameters are monitored very closely through a very elaborate process. It involves both lab based quality checks as well as process based monitoring techniques.

Some of the significant quality values associated with every product from Morarka portfolio also include the variety, place of cultivation and all the geographically associated characteristics of the food products sold. With the result almost one third of the products presently being sold also qualify for registration under Geographical Indications, popularly known as GI products.

<Readmore>

Quality Management

<Readmore>

Geographical Indication(GI):

The quality management at Morarka begins with the selection of project areas for the cultivation of specific crops. Every effort is made to identify those areas, which are traditionally known for that crop in terms of its inherent quality attributes. While this approach enables the best quality of crop variety available for marketing and delivering superior sensory attributes like taste, aroma, flavor, cooking quality etc, it is much easier to take up the organic cultivation in traditional growing areas.

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP):

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) refers to methods, which when applied to agriculture, produce results that are in harmony with the values of the proponents of those practices. Multiple GAP codes, standards and regulations have been developed in recent years by not just the food industry and producer organizations, but also governments and NGOs. GAP aims to codify agricultural practices at farm level for a range of commodities.The objective of GAP codes, standards and regulations implanted at the farm level include, to a varying degree as follows:

·  Appropriate adoption and monitoring of GAP helps improve the safety and quality of food and other agricultural products at he farm level.
·  It may help reduce the risk of non-compliance with national and international regulations, standards and guidelines (in particular of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention IPPC  regarding permitted pesticides, maximum levels of contaminants (including pesticides, veterinary drugs, radionuclide and mycotoxins) in food and non-food agricultural products, as well as other chemical, microbiological and physical contamination hazards.
·  Adoption of GAP helps promotes sustainable agriculture and contributes to meeting national and international environment and social development objectives.


Hazard Analysis &Critical Control Points (HACCP):

Safety of the food supply is key to consumer confidence. In the past, periodic plant inspections and sample testing have been used to ensure the quality and safety of food products.HACCP was introduced as a system to control the safety of the product when manufactured, rather than trying to detect problems by testing the finished product.

This system is based on assessing the inherent hazards or risks in a particular product or process and designing a system to control them. Specific points where the hazards can be controlled in the process are identified and monitored regularly to keep the Critical Control points under control.

The HACCP system has been successfully applied in all the Production Units. The system fits in well with modern quality and management techniques. It is especially compatible with the ISO 22000 and just in time delivery of ingredients. In this environment, consumers are assured of receiving quality products matching their specifications.

ISO 22000: 2005 Food Safety Management System:

Food reaches consumers via supply chains that may link many different types of organizations and may stretch across multiple borders. A weak link may result in unsafe food, which is dangerous to consumers’ health. ISO 22000 has made implementation of the HACCP system easier as it incorporates food hygiene principles of HACCP. Another benefit of ISO 22000 is that it extends the system management approach of ISO 9001:2000 which though widely implemented in all sectors does not specifically address food safety.ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements has enabled Morarka Organic to achieve the following objectives:

·  To plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system aimed at providing products that, according to their intended use, are safe for the consumer,
·  To demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety requirements,
·  To evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity with those mutually agreed customer requirements that relate to food safety, in order to enhance customer satisfaction,
·  To effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers and relevant interested parties in the food chain,
·  To ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety policy,
·  To demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties, and
·  To seek certification or registration of its food safety management system by an external organization, or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to standards.

Fairtrade
Food as a business, being direct relationship between the producers and consumers for thousands of years, underwent major transformation during industrial revolution era. It become indirect, there were many multiple levels and above all the value chain management of agriculture crops became so complex that it was not possible any more for producer to directly reach out to consumers. While this offered many benefits to the consumers in terms of regular availability, better products, more variety and convenience, it also brought in the distortion in the trade, major being lesser share for the producer as compared to every one else in the food value chain.
As on today the very idea of organic has been based on overcoming all the shortcomings in the food value chain, beginning with the contamination in food, that too right from cultivation onwards, it became imperative that producer is involved to meet the increasing expectations of organic consumers. Thus when organic crop is cultivated and is being brought to the table of value - quality conscious organic consumer, it must also offer value for money and must meet the reasonable expectations of producer, consumers & trade channel players. While for conventional food products it is being attempted through a novel concept like Fair Trade Labelling and Certification, in case of organic it is achieved as a basic principle of organic certification.
At Morarka, all the operations are in compliance with fair trade standards for international certification. The initiatives are in the pipeline to get complete value chain certified as well. Collaborations are being established to evolve India specific Standards and Certification under the patronage of Government Agencies.

Fairtrade


Not all trade is fair. Farmers at the beginning of the chain don’t always get a fair share of the benefits of trade. Fairtrade enables consumers to put this right. 

Fairtrade is an alternative approach to conventional trade and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers. Fairtrade offers farmers a better deal and improved terms of trade. This allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future. The Fair Trade label offers a positive way to buy products in solidarity with those who produced them. Buying Fairtrade products helps empower farmers and helps them tackle poverty. Thus Fairtrade offers consumers an easy yet powerful way to reduce poverty simply through every day shopping.

Fair Trade certification is not just about paying farmers and workers fairly. Producers are expected to trade responsibly and respect and improve the lives of those who work with them, the communities in which they work and the environment.It is also about promoting education and developing more sustainable trade ties with other nations. Fair Trade certification involves voluntary cooperation with a certifying organization and usually reflects an international effort between companies and their suppliers.


Standards & Compliance:

Although Morarka Organic products do not carry the Fairtrade Mark, it complies with and meets every aspect of Fairtrade standards. These standards are designed to address the imbalance of power in trading and the injustices of conventional trade.

The core purpose of these standards is to alleviate poverty of the producers and sustainable development. Like every Fair Trade certified company, Morarka Organic guarantees that their suppliers do not use child or slave labor, that workers are paid a fair living wage, that employment opportunities are available to all workers and that everyone has an equal opportunity for advancement, and that healthy working and living conditions are provided for workers. In addition Morarka Organic supports the educational and technical needs of their workforce, while promoting active and healthy trade agreements and is open to public accountability. Morarka Organic also complies with Fair Trade standards involving environmentally sustainable production and harvest practices, encouraging a stable market and a healthy Earth.

The extra ordinary growth achieved in a short span and increasing number of farmers being enrolled every month is an indication of responsible business behaviour by Morarka.


Organic Food Quality Certification
Know about the quality of organic food !

In last ten years or so, media has created some awareness about food contamination and organic food as an option to the consumers. But even as on today, there is very little knowledge and understanding about the authenticity and integrity of organic quality and its certification. Here is an attempt to explain this whole issue in a simplified manner.

•  World over the concept of organic food has come about, due to demands from consumers for food without contamination. This essentially means that on the farm synthetic and chemical inputs should not be used for qualifying as an organic produce.
•  In response to consumer demands, many countries have enacted new “LAWS” to regulate organic food production, handling and processing. These laws are commonly known as “ORGANIC STANDARDS”.
•  Organic Standards as laws have provisions for appointment of Certification Agencies. These agencies operate as an independent third party verification and certification agency. They are responsible for ensuring compliances with the criteria prescribed for organic production, handling and processing.
•  Every producer, adopting to be an organic producer, first of all registers his/her production unit – farm with any one of the Accredited Certification Agency.
•  A producer once registered, also signs a declaration about his/her commitment to follow Organic Standards. These standards could be any one type or more such as INDIA-NPOP, US-NOP, EU-2092/2091, etc.
•  The producer while following Organic Standards, also maintains complete records of all the activities and practices followed for production at the farm unit.
•  The Certification Agency conducts regular, periodical and surprise AUDITS to verify the compliance with the prescribed Organic Standards.
•  A farmer-producer found to be in-compliance with the Organic Standards is issued a CERTIFICATE. This certificate authorizes the producer to put a STAMP as a mark of compliance with the relevant laws applicable for organic production, processing and handling.
•  A certification mark on any product is a complete guarantee for the ORGANIC QUALITY OF A PRODUCT.