The European Commission has decided to suspend five certifying bodies from clearing or ratifying exports of Indian processed organic food products for their failure comply with European Union norms and ensure contamination-free products. 

In a notification last week, the EC proposed an amendment to implementing regulation with regard to recognition of control authorities and control bodies (certifying agencies) for permitting import of organic products into the Union.

As per this, TQ Cert Services has been suspended from certifying processed organic food products on a request from the Indian government after the firm was suspended by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of India (APEDA) from clearing or certifying exports. APEDA is the competent authority recognised by the EU.

Contamination far above MRLs

The other four—Control Union Certifications, Ecocert SA, Lacon GmbH and OneCert International Pvt—have been suspended for non-compliance of EU organic products import norms. The EC said notification of non-complaiance cases had been registered in the Organic Farming Information System (OFIS).

“Those notifications concern the contamination of a large number of consignments of products, produced in India and certified as organic by those control bodies. The contaminations were with products and substances not allowed in organic production and/or conventional production in the Union, at levels above and often far above the Maximum Residue Levels as set in Regulation of the European Parliament,” the EC said. 

The contaminations reported include those with ethylene oxide (ETO), which is carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic for reproduction. But there were other contaminations too, the EC said.

Failure to take corrective measures

These certifying agencies failed to demonstrate that the products under their supervision were produced in accordance with the norms and subject to control arrangements equivalent to those laid down by the EC. 

In addition, the agencies failed to take corrective measures in response to the reported irregularities and infringements, it said. Control Union Certifications, Ecocert SA , Lacon GmbH and TQ Cert are EU-based agencies, while OneCert is based in the US. 

“The EU had suspended these five firms as it feels they are not functioning properly in India. It is unhappy with their work as they had already been suspended from certifying organic commodities. They should have been more careful and worked differently,” said S Chandrasekharan, a trade analyst who tracks organic exports. 

The EC move follows its decision in December last year to derecognise five certifying agencies - ECOCERT India Pvt Ltd, CU Inspections Ltd, Indian Organic Certification Agency (Indocert), Lacon Quality Certifications Pvt Ltd and OneCert International Private Ltd - from clearing or ratifying exports of organic products. Then, they were charged with failure to meet the ethylene oxide (ETO) norms in consignments, particularly sesame (til/gingelly) imported into the European Union. 

ETO impact on shipments

At that time, a hectic lobbying was carried out by EU and US organisations in the EU seeking action against APEDA.

The certifying agencies which are being suspended clear and certify a significant amount of organic products and processed food exports from India.  

Though the EC has only issued a draft, it will likely be ratified over the next two months and could be implemented from October 1.  

Indian organic exports have been affected by the presence of ETO, which the EU considers to be carcinogenic for humans. Therefore, it is strictly monitored to ensure that shipment of any product conforms to the norms. 

In the case of India, the presence of ETO has been found to have exceeded the permitted level, which the EU felt posed a health risk to its consumers.

comment COMMENT NOW