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Organic
consumers
Organic food
generally attracts premium prices. Behind that premium is an assumption that
the producer has gone to extra effort to avoid the use of synthetic
chemicals, to replace them with sound management practices sensitive to the
environment and be able to demonstrate those practices as organic. The
IOAS is part of the guarantee system to consumers that an organic product
has indeed been produced on a farm or in a food production plant which
complies with certain organic standards. Although
the conformity assessment system (as is called the various mechanisms for
ensuring compliance of products with agreed standards) may vary from country
to country, generally organic farms and food plants are inspected by certification
bodies which are themselves generally registered or approved by a government
authority or formally accredited by
another entity such as the IOAS or a national body designated by government
for that purpose. This
two tier system exists to assure consumers that products bearing organic
labels are from verified producers which are in turn inspected by competent
bodies. Consumers
have the right to ask whether a product really is organic. The conformity
assessment system of which IOAS is a part aims to answer that question. See
Regulating organic
agriculture for more general information on the international regulation of
organic agriculture See Accreditation
for how IOAS works to guarantee organic integrity.
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