Australia’s $2.6 billion organic industry is celebrating a milestone in establishing a mandatory standard for use of the word ‘organic’ following an Australian Government announcement today calling for public consultation on the matter.
Long-term supporter of improving and streamlining Australia’s organic regulatory framework, Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud, delivered the announcement, which will allow industry and consumers to share their voice on potential regulatory or non-regulatory options across the organics supply chain.
Currently, Australia is lagging behind global markets as one of the only developed nations in the world without a mandatory domestic standard, meaning products that are not certified may be labelled organic. Exporters of organic products are also severely disadvantaged due to the red tape of having to pay separate in-country fees and meet specific regulations of customer nations, in the absence of a trusted Australian framework.
