At Intertek, our experts can provide all the information and analysis you require to test your organic products for residues and contaminants.
As a food producer, you demand high quality standards from your supply chain to ensure your consumers can trust your brand. To enable your products to reach you in flawless condition and in the quantity the market demands, pesticides naturally become an integral part of the production process for both conventional and organic food products.
With Intertek as your partner, we will provide guidance on food legislation within your destination markets and help you to develop the necessary risk based monitoring plans to enable your business to succeed. Reliable and accurate testing and analysis plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality of organic foods. Intertek can provide both the residue analysis and the high-level expertise you need to ensure that your products comply with the various rules that govern organic produce. We use cutting edge methodology and years of experience to ensure fast turnaround times and accurate test results.
Bee products, such as honey and wax, are also subject to strict regulation. Our experts have decades of experience on this highly specific and vital service. Materials used for organic beekeeping are strictly outlined by Regulation (EC) 889/2008. Allowed substances are limited to organic acids (formic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid), essential oils (menthol, thymol, eucalyptol, camphor) and microorganisms.
Organic Food Regulations
Further regulatory information on this topic:
Our expertise includes residue advice for pesticides in accordance with European Regulation 396/2005. This ruling sets the allowed maximum residue levels (MRL) and includes organic food. Organic food producers must meet stricter rules. For example, according to the German Organic Processors and Traders Association, organic produce must have pesticide residue below 0.01 mg/kg, with no more than two pesticides present.
For farm produce to be organic, prophylactic antibiotic use is strictly prohibited. However, some antibiotics are allowed but are strictly regulated. According to EU Regulations 470/2009 and 37/2010, only the antibiotics listed are allowed. For all forbidden substances listed a "zero tolerance" policy applies.
Our laboratories can determine the residue levels of mycotoxins, including patulin, aflatoxins and ochratoxin. The mycotoxins produced by certain moulds play an important role in the analysis of organic foodstuff. Patulin is significant in fruits and can be found mainly in apples but also in peaches and pears. Maximum limits for patulin have been set in EU Regulation 1881/2006. It is also sensible to test for ochratoxin and aflatoxins in food such as nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
Our comprehensive service also includes heavy metal identification. Sources of heavy metal contamination caused during cultivation include nearby industrial sites and motorways, as well as the use of leaded fuel in agriculture. EU contaminant regulation 1881/2006 sets maximum limits for significant elements such as lead, cadmium and mercury.
