CODE OF PRACTICE
CODE OF PRACTICE (COP)
Develop a practical and flexible Code of Practice (CoP) for processors of organic food and labelling organizations.
Develop a multi-dimensional assessment framework (criteria, indicators, parameters, assessment methods) for organic food processing providing guidance on how to assess organic food quality as affected by contentious substances and processing technologies as well as by alternatives to them.
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Test the practicability of the CoP in concrete situations and contexts (case studies) represented by food processing companies.
1. Management Guideline for organic food processors
Authors: Alexander Beck (AöL e. V., Germany), Johanna Stumpner (AöLe.V., Germany), Lisa Borghoff (Hochschule Münster, Germany), Ursula Kretzschmar (FiBL, Switzerland)
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The Management Guideline is part of the Code of Practice for organic food processing, developed in the european project ProOrg. The aim is to contribute to the further development of the practice of organic food processing in terms of increased integrity, quality, transparency and success.
2. Assessment Framework for the evaluation of organic food processing
Authors: Matthias Meier (BFH-HAFL), Regula Bickel (FIBL), Alex Beck and Johanna Stumpner (AöL)
The goal of this document is to provide guidance to processors, labelling organizations, and policy makers on how to assess and evaluate organic food processing being in line with organic principles. The document provides a detailed and step-by-step assessment framework for evaluating organic food processing and sets the minimum requirements to be met.
3. Guidelines for consumer communication
Authors: Katrin Zander and Ronja Hüppe (University of Kassel, Germany)
While food additives permitted for organic processing are largely regulated within the EU organic regulation, this is not the case for food processing technologies. This Code of Practice is supposed to guide processors in their choice for the most suitable processing methods for organic food. For this purpose, an assessment framework and management guidelines have been developed. As a third component, these communication guidelines focus on the interaction with consumers. They give an idea of how to deal with consumers’ expectations on food processing.
4. Discussion paper: Assessment Criteria for Processing
Technologies Based on EU Regulation 2018/848
Authors: Alexander Beck (AöL e. V., Germany), Ursula Kretzschmar (FiBL, Switzerland), Flavio Paoletti (CREA, Italy), Rodolphe Vidal (ITAB, France)
The objective of this discussion paper is to provide clear criteria to assess food processing technologies, based on the legal requirements for organic food processing.
​This discussion paper is available in English, French, Italian and German.
5. The tool Eva - TechProof for evaluating processing methods
"Eva - TechProof" (EVA = evaluation, Tech = technology, proof = test) was developed as a tool for evaluating processing methods, based on the need to know which processing technologies are suitable for the production of organic food.
Eva offers a systematic approach. Eva can be used to compare processing technologies for the production of organic as well as conventional food, as Eva can be flexibly extended to include additional aspects and criteria. Eva provides a basis for the objective assessment of processing technologies, new technologies can be tested for their organic suitability (e.g. novel food applications) and it offers a good foundation for decision-making in the case of technological changes, i.e. replacement investments. With the help of this flexible system, further aspects can also be included in the assessment, such as social sustainability or economic sustainability.