The SIC opens the first public comment period (Jan 21 - Feb 21)

pacsadmin — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:26:16 +0000

pacsadmin Mon, 01/25/2021 - 07:26

The following information has been copied from the Organic Federation of Canada Newsletter, Info-bio

Canadian Standards Interpretation Committee

Comment period – 21 January to 21 February 2021

The Standards Interpretation Committee opens the first public comment period presenting interpretations in compliance with the version 2020 of the Canadian Organic Standards (published on 11 December 2020).

Please note all the Standards Interpretation Committee's Final Questions and Answers have been updated to reflect the content of the 2020 Canadian Organic Standards (COS).

If a final answer has both blue and black text, the part of the answer written in black corresponds to the 2015 COS and the part of the answer written in blue corresponds strictly to the 2020 COS.
If the answer is written completely in black, this means the answer applies to both the 2015 and 2020 editions.

The 2015 COS remains applicable for one year after the publication of the 2020 COS.

Questions and answers under public comment:

Is organic feed required during transport and handling of livestock when the duration of transit exceeds 5 hours (6.5.5)?

When liquid ingredients are composed of solids dissolved in added water, is the added water excluded or included in the percent organic calculation?

When calculating the organic percentage of a multi-ingredient product, that is a mixture of solid and liquid ingredients (9.1.3c), and there are no reconstitution claims, is the mass of each ingredient used as-is, or should any salt or water in each of these ingredients be removed prior to the calculation?

Can gelling agents such as guar gum and xanthan gum be added into drinking water/feed for crickets? This will stop crickets from drowning especially as they are small when they first hatch.

… and many additional questions and answers.

Click here to see the proposed answers to various questions raised by organic stakeholders regarding the National Standards for Organic Agriculture.

The proposed responses are subject to a 30-day comment period, ending 21 February 2021.

All comments regarding these answers should be sent to cfia.opr-rpb.acia@canada.ca.

B.C. Organic Certification Regulation

seenherd — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 22:55:05 +0000

B.C. Organic Certification Regulation

seenherd Thu, 02/21/2019 - 14:55

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 operations who hold certification through the B.C. Certified Organic Program (BCCOP) or the Canada Organic Regime (COR) may use a protected label for marketing food or agricultural products.

Some people have asked why this Regulation came into being. The requirement for organic certification provides assurance to B.C. consumers that their organic purchases have been verified to recognized standards in organic production in B.C. The Regulation also provides a more fair, competitive marketplace among organic producers by removing those operations who make false organic claims.

Producers, processors, distributors and marketers in B.C. must hold organic certification to market their products as organic. Retailers are not required to hold certification for selling bulk or prepackaged organic products, for changing the packaging/container of organic products, or for cutting singular organic products; however, there must be consumer labelling that identifies the certification body of the organic product. Examples of when organic certification is required, or not, are described in the PDF document, Guidelines for BC’s Organic Certification Regulation from the Ministry of Agriculture.

If you have any questions about the B.C. Organic Certification Regulation, or if you would like to discuss whether your operation requires organic certification, please contact us.

Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR)

seenherd — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 22:53:44 +0000

Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR)

seenherd Thu, 02/21/2019 - 14:53

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 below, which will affect our COR certified clients.

Food Processors:
• Yeast will now be covered under the scope of organic products since, under the SFCR, yeast is considered a “food” as per Section 2 of the Food and Drugs Act and, as a food commodity as defined in Section 2 of the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA).

Aquaculture:
• Under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, organic certification requirements apply to aquaculture products. As of January 15, 2021, all organic aquaculture products must comply with the organic aquaculture standard CAN/CGSB-32.312-2018 Organic Production Systems – Aquaculture – General principles, management standards and permitted substances. Aquaculture products, as defined in 32.312, are “crops and livestock, or a product wholly or partly derived therefrom, cultivated in a controlled or managed aquatic environment. The products of fishing of wild animals are not considered part of this definition.” There is no expectation that all Certification Bodies should become accredited to certify aquaculture products.

General certification information:
• Section 346, SFCR - a specified timeline was added whereas the information contained in an application must be submitted no later than 6 months after an organic certificate is issued, and on-site verification must be conducted within 12 months. The purpose of this timeline is to ensure applications are submitted on time, thereby avoiding extensions of organic certification.

• Section 349 (2), SFCR – A period of time is mentioned in which corrective action for a Non-Compliance must be taken. It is not specified in the SFCR, but is, however, specified in the COR Operating Manual. Failure to take corrective action in order to avoid suspension within a time period specified by the CB may result in suspension of certification (Non-Compliances must be addressed within 30 days of their receipt, as per COR Operating Manual C.2.3.1).

• Section 349 (3), SFCR – states that a CB may grant an extension, only once, of the period in which corrective action must be taken (the plan shall include a completion date not exceeding 90 days from receipt of the Non-Compliance, COR Operating Manual C.2.3.1).

• Section 350 1 (b), SFCR - A new requirement allowing a CB to cancel an organic certificate immediately if an operator provided misleading or false information in its application, or at any time during the period of validity of certification, without having to suspend as an initial step. It is different from the requirement for suspension when non-conformities are found during a scheduled inspection.

• Section 350 1 (c), SFCR – the SFCR clearly states that a certification body must cancel an operation’s certification if, while the operation is suspended, it conducts any activity with respect to a food commodity that is identified in the certificate.

• Section 359 (3), SFCR – using the COR logo for advertisement or information purposes for things that are not food commodities no longer requires an application to the CFIA. It is expected that the COR logo will be used appropriately, as specified in the SFCR.

If you have any questions about how Part 13 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations affects your certification, or if we can be of assistance in the interpretation of the above points, please don’t hesitate to contact the PACS office. For your reference, the COR manual is posted on the new SFCR page under the Organic Products page at:

COR Manual (English)
COR Manual (French)