The New Mandatory EU Organic Label

As of July 1, new regulations came into effect that require the use of the European organic logo on pre-packaged organic food and beverage products. The European Commission states that the new logo is designed to provide a consumer with “complete confidence” that the goods they purchase are produced in line with EU organic farming regulations.

The logo is made up of 12 stars in the shape of a leaf. According to FOODnavigator.com

[w]here used, the logo must be accompanied by an indication of the place where the agricultural raw materials were farmed, stating that raw materials originate from 'EU Agriculture', 'non-EU Agriculture' or 'EU/non-EU Agriculture'. If all raw materials have been farmed in only one country, the name of this specific country, in or outside the EU, can be indicated instead. National, region, or private labels will be allowed to appear on packaging alongside the common EU logo. Under the EU’s new regulations, products can only be labelled as organic if:

• At least 95 per cent of the product's ingredients of agricultural origin have been organically produced;
• The product complies with the rules of the official inspection scheme;
• The product has come directly from the producer or preparer in a sealed package;
• The product bears the name of the producer, the preparer or vendor and the name or code of the inspection body
• The product does not contain GMOs

The new EU rules also set out conditions for organic aquaculture production of fish, shellfish and seaweed. These specify that biodiversity should be respected, and do not allow the use of induced spawning by artificial hormones.