ORGANIC AND LOCAL
Friday, May 30
Canadian consumers want their fresh produce to be grown locally and tested regularly for chemicals before it's classified as organic, a new survey suggests, two conditions that won't be part of new federal regulations set to take effect later this year.

University of Guelph researcher John Cranfield conducted the study in order to help identify the standards consumers want to see applied to those products that are labelled as organic.

The results suggest 'there's more to consumer interest in these standards than what the existing legislation has,' Cranfield said in an interview.

The federal regulations will simply establish minimum standards, leaving room for private companies to go above and beyond what the law requires in order to meet public expectations for organic products, he said.

'What our results suggest is that the national standard ought to be viewed as sort of a minimum that consumers would look for,' Cranfield said. 'Firms might be able to seize the opportunity and go beyond those publicly mandated standards.'

National standards will be good for the organic food industry, he added. Locally grown products aren't always readily available, and extensive testing for various pesticides and other chemicals can be a costly proposition.

The federal Conservative government announced in September 2006 its plan to establish national standards for organic foods.

Canada has had a voluntary standard since 1999 and private certification bodies offer organic labels with various criteria. Several provinces also have their own regulatory mechanisms.

Under the legislation, which takes effect in December, the Canadian Food and Drug Agency must accredit agencies to monitor a national organic standard.

Only those producers that avoid exposing their produce to a wide range of substances, including synthetic pesticides, hormones, sewage sludge and radiation, will be eligible for certification.

The regulations will help ensure consumers get what they're paying for, said Laura Telford, executive director of the Canadian Organic Growers, a national agency that represents organic farmers.

Without regulations, if a farmer puts an organic label on a product without getting approved by one of the nearly 30 agencies that enforce standards in Canada, nothing can be done. 'Now, fraudsters can be charged.'

But the regulations don't mean organic produce contains no trace of pesticides or chemicals in it, something consumers often don't understand, she added.

'Organic is a process standard which means we certify that we did everything right, but we can't certify the product that comes out of the system,' Telford said.

'We can't certify that an organically grown apple will have no pesticides and the reason for that is that we can't control the world.'

Testing products for chemicals is expensive, a test for a single chemical can run into the hundreds of dollars, she added.

The regulations come on the heels of a European Union decision in 2006 that would have closed the EU's borders to Canadian organic products without a federal certification program.

Organic products remain a rapidly growing industry in Canada.

The number of organic farms increased nearly 60 per cent in the last five years, although organic produce made up less than one per cent of the $46.5 billion Canadians spent on groceries in 2006, Statistics Canada says.

By The Canadian Press

THE LATEST LOCAL ORGANIC NEWS, FROM THE ORGANIC HOME