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COA to certify produce to avoid fake 'organic' labels

2005-07-31

Many local consumers who have paid premium prices for organic produce are actually buying non-organic products, a situation the Cabinet-level Consumer Protection Commission hopes will come to an end at the beginning of next year.

The commission expects to submit a draft law in October for the Legislature to approve that would authorize the Council of Agriculture to label all organic vegetables with the CAS seal of approval beginning January 1, 2006.

The decision was made with the aim of protecting consumers from buying produce that falsely carries an "organic" label.

According to one commission official, the problem is that under current laws the certification and regulation of organic produce fall through bureaucratic cracks, leading to a situation where there is no specific agency in charge.

The COA is not legally empowered to effectively monitor farms and no organizations exist to certify produce before it hits supermarket shelves.

Once the produce reaches the consumer, it would normally be regulated under the Department of Health's "Law Governing Food Sanitation," but that statute has no specific provisions for "organic" foods.

Then, in cases where vendors may falsely advertise and sell regular produce as "organic," the Fair Trade Commission and Ministry of Economic Affairs have different opinions on how to handle such a practice.

The result, the official said, is that there is no government agency ultimately responsible for the proper labeling and safety of organic vegetables sold in Taiwan.

The head of the commission's monitoring section, Liu Ching-fang, said that the COA currently uses three different organizations to certify "organic" growers, but noted that without a clear standard of what constitutes "organic," the process is inconsistent.

Liu stressed that the "organic" designation describes how produce is grown. Just testing for pesticides is an inadequate measure of what could be considered organic.

Given the clear lack of government accountability and the potential to abuse consumer rights, the Consumer Protection Commission brought together representatives to draft an "Agricultural Product Safety Law" that would make the Council of Agriculture responsible for regulating organic produce.

The commission expects to submit the draft to the Legislature in October, with the goal being to launch the labeling program at the beginning of next year.

Under the new system, once a farm applies to be certified as an "organic" grower, a dedicated certification body would test the farm's soil for heavy metals, water quality and residues of pesticides used in the growing process. Only those growers passing the test would be authorized to use the CAS label on their produce, enabling consumers to have confidence that they are indeed buying organic products, the commission said.

The CAS is the seal of approval used to certify high quality agricultural products in Taiwan.

The commission is aware that some certified organic growers might be tempted to fill larger orders with non-organic produce from other farms. Officials said they would require the COA to carefully audit production and sales volumes of organic produce to prevent that from happening.