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PACIFIC AGRICULTURAL
CERTIFICATION SOCIETY

PACS is an incorporated not-for-profit society that provides certification, including Canada Organic Regime (COR) organic certification accredited by CFIA to small growers as well as multi-million dollar food processors and distributors Canada wide for international markets. PACS is guided by the clients it serves and offers floating scale fees to keep costs accessible to all. 
 

Learn How Can I Get Certified

Register

Ready to take the next steps towards Organic Certification or Transfer from another certification body?
 

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Transfer to PACS

Renew

Our streamlined renewal process is easy and efficient.
 

Existing Members

WHY CERTIFY WITH PACS?

We at PACS are motivated to see a healthy world through organic certification where ‘organic’ is a proud household word. Our staff are very friendly, knowledgeable and keen to assist our clients. PACS is guided by the clients it serves and offers floating scale fees to keep costs accessible to all. As there are no profits, fees are tied specifically to costs.

Beginning fall of 2018, producers, processors and handlers of organic food and beverage will require verification of organic certification and product claims.
 

Read More About PACS

Read Some of Our Client Testimonials

WHAT WE OFFER

PACS certifies to the Canada Organic Regime (COR), overseen by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and by which the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) provides a federal program for regulation of organic agricultural products. COR certification permits organic claims on interprovincial sales and international export of organic products.

For operators who sell organic agricultural products only within their own province or territory, PACS offers the option of regional certification. Operators located in B.C., who sell products within B.C. only, may certify to the Certified Organic Associations of B.C. (COABC) British Columbia Certified Organic Program (BCCOP). Operators located outside of B.C. who sell within their own province or territory, may certify to PACS’ own certification program.
PACS also offers internal programs for the organic certification of natural health products, and cannabis.

View All Programs

Update for organic exports to the USA: New USDA SOE final rule

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Organic Program (NOP) published an update to USDA organic regulations titled Strengthening Organic Enforcement Final Rule (SOE) on January 19th, 2023. This new rule incorporates (US) National Organic Standards Board recommendations, 2018 Farm Bill mandates and industry requests for the purpose of improving organic… Read more...

B.C. Organic Certification Regulation

On 1 September 2018, the B.C. government implemented the B.C. Organic Certification Regulation. Under this regulation, the term “organic” is a protected label for agricultural and aquaculture products produced or processed in B.C., and where certified organic programs exist. Grammatical and phonetic representations, and abbreviations and symbols for the term organic are protected. Only… Read more...

Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR)

On 15 January 2019, the Organic Products Regulations, 2009 were replaced by Part 13, Organic Products, of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR). Under the SFCR, any food, seed, or animal feed that is labelled as organic is regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). In case you are wondering how this affects your operation, we would like to outline a few of the changes… Read more...

Organic Client Testimonial

Why Organic?

Q. Why is being certified organic important to you and your business?
For us growing organically was the only way conceivable. From the moment we began talking about starting a farm it was a given it would be organic. We had been trying to eat mostly organic food for a while and we believed it was healthier for us, but more importantly, healthier for our ecosystem as a whole. As we delved deeper and started to learn about growing and selling vegetables we embraced organic methods and realized how important being certified was for the farms that we were learning from, and how the clientele demanded it. At this point the strong majority of our customers demand and expect certified organic at our stall, and many of them would quit shopping with us if we stopped being certified. But not only does certification substantiate and define organic practices, it joins organic farmers together in solidarity and gives us power.