Many markets use unauthorised certificates on their vegetables as they
are discouraged by the high cost of certification.
Some supermarkets and suppliers
in Beijing are ignoring a new national standard that aims to rein in the
chaotic organic food industry.
According to the new standard,
organic products produced after July 1 must bear the mark of authorised
certification organisations and a unique 17-digit identification number, by
which users can trace the product's origin on the Internet.
However, one month after the new
standard took effect, a China Daily reporter found several markets in Beijing
selling products without the standard labels.
In the organic vegetable section
of a large supermarket in Dongcheng district, the majority of products either
did not carry the standard organic food label with the 17-digit identification
number, or carried labels from unauthorised certification organisations.
According to the Certification
and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China, there are
only 15 authorised organic product certification organisations nationwide. Any
certificate issued by other organisations is invalid.
In another large supermarket
north of Fourth Ring Road, the organic vegetables with standard labels were
placed among vegetables with improper labels.
As all of the labels are round,
green and about 2 centimetres in diameter, they look similar.
"There are so many kinds of
organic labels. It's very hard to identify the authorised ones. And it's very
easy to take the wrong product as the labels all look the same to me," a
woman shopping in the supermarket said.
The prices of the vegetables
labelled as organic are usually higher than non-organic vegetables.
Organic tomatoes in this market
were selling at 13 yuan (US$2) per kilogram, while the regular tomatoes, only a
few steps away from the organic food counter, were priced at only 3 yuan per
kilogram.
In a fruit store in Dongcheng
district, a China Daily reporter bought fruit and asked the shop owner if he
could stick organic labels on them.
The owner produced dozens of
labels and told the reporter they belong to his company.
An online store on taobao.com,
specialising in producing food labels, also said they could make all types of
organic food labels if they were provided with a sample.
According to the regulations on
the certification of organic products carried out on April 1, 2005, companies
who fake organic labels or use the labels without certification from
authorities will be fined 10,000 to 30,000 yuan.
Guo Chunmin from the China
Organic Food Certification Centre, one of the 15 authorised certification
organisations, said it's common for producers or suppliers to carry
unauthorised labels, given the new standard is much tougher than before.
He said many companies that had
the license in the past are now unqualified.
The centre has stripped 300 to
400 food producers of their organic certification since the new standards were
implemented.
According to the new standard,
the planting environment of producers must be examined every year and a wide
range of the vegetables they grow must be examined.
Under the previous standard,
inspection took place once only every three to five years, and only one vegetable
was examined.
As the standard became more
complicated and stricter, the cost of certification has greatly increased, Guo
said. "The examination of one breed of vegetable costs at least 2,000
yuan. If a company has 100 kinds of vegetables, which is pretty normal, it will
spend more than 200,000 yuan on certification."
The high cost discourages
companies from producing certified organic products.
The core idea behind organic
farming is no chemical fertilisers are used during the production, he said.
Therefore, organic farming often has a smaller output than non-organic farming.
The benefit is that authorities
can ensure that the organic products with the standard labels are all
trustworthy, Guo said.
China Daily
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