Twelve Key Questions to Determine the Specific Risk of your Organic Products
Apr 2020. When it comes to the safety of organic food, businesses, suppliers and traders must protect themselves in all directions. Not only extensive legal requirements, but also complex market requirements of the organic sector must be met. Many requirements are subject to dynamic changes, e.g. through EU organic legislation. An important milestone is the new EU Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848.
How to Determine the Specific Risk for your Organic Products:
Check the procurement situation
- Which raw materials do you purchase in which quantities and quality grades?
- What is the cultivation situation of the raw materials in general in relation to the countries of origin (legal requirements, approval situation of plant protection products, climatic conditions, etc.)?
- What is the cultivation situation of the raw materials directly on site (conventional/ecological cultivation in the neighbourhood, weather conditions, harvest situation, availability)?
- How established is your relationship with your supplier (regular audits, knowledge about crop protection measures, knowledge about other cultivation products, working conditions and dependencies)?
- What are the supply routes and storage conditions (including transportation, shelf life of raw materials, contamination risks)?
- What is the vulnerability of the raw materials to adulteration (price, availability, opportunity)?
Research the figures/data/facts
- Are the raw materials you use often conspicuous? (Your QM experiences with the product, EU Rapid Alert System (RASFF), monitoring data (e.g. reports of the food control authorities, publications of associations), experiences of your partner laboratory)
- What are the typical or most frequently mentioned findings for your raw materials?
Check your processing procedures
- What are the potential sources of contamination (e.g. disinfectants, equipment abrasion, use of technical aids)
- What type of processing takes place that could lead to unwanted changes in product quality (e.g. heating, mixing)
Do the final check
- What are the legal requirements for marketability? To which target market do you sell? Which export requirements have to be considered?
- What about storage stability and labelling of your organic products?
We Support you with our Knowledge
Profit from
- our organic expertise from active membership in relevant industry and organic associations, trade fairs and working groups
- the worldwide Eurofins laboratory network with contacts in many countries of origin with knowledge of local legislation and labelling requirements
- the Eurofins Firewall tool, which offers you a comprehensive package of security measures and
- the many years of experience of our analytical competence centres for all relevant control points for organic products, such as contaminants, residues, hygiene, foreign matters, authenticity and allergens
We Answer your Questions
Your personal account manager or our expert Johannes Jaschik will be happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject of quality assurance and risk assessment of organic products. We will be happy to advise you on suitable analysis strategies.
Further Information
Eurofins News: Organic Farming - How Environmental Analyses Serve Food Safety
