Organic standards to receive funding
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will give $33,000 to not-for-profit organisation Standards Australia to maintain organic and biodynamic product standards, following the development of appropriate standards last year.
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke encouraged those in the industry to adopt this standard as it “will provide greater certainty and credibility for industry and consumers and will be a major step forward in the industry’s development”.
He added that a number of stakeholders had been consulted. “A broad range of organic industry stakeholders were involved in the development of the standard, including organic producers, retailers, consumer groups, certifiers, processors and government agencies,” said Burke.
Standards Australia released the industry standard AS 6000 – 2009 Organic and biodynamic products and MP 100 Procedures for certification of organic and biodynamic products. While the Australian standard is voluntary, it provides an important reference for courts to determine if there has been a breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in relation to organic or biodynamic labelling claims.
Got something to say? Join the export forum here at DynamicExport.com.au.
