Certified Organic Cultivation
Owing to the growing demand, the market offers a wide variety of organically
produced teas, meaning that no pesticides or insecticides may be used in their
cultivation.
Since January 1, 2009, the EU regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and the commission
regulation (EC) No 889/2008 form a uniform basis of the cultivation, processing,
storing, labeling and selling of organically produced foods. This regulation
states that, for example, all ingredients used in organic teas must be of
organic origin and that only natural flavors may be used. On February 15, 2012,
the European Union and the United States announced that beginning June 1st,
2012, their respective countries’ certified organic products can be represented
as such across the Atlantic. With this Organics Equivalency Arrangement, the
USDA and the European Commission acknowledge compatibility of each others
organic certifications (USDA & EU organic system), meaning that the US
allows agricultural products to be sold, labeled, or represented as orgaically
produced, including by display of the USDA organic seal as well as the EU
organic logo.
This will change when the new USDA organics standard takes effect on December
27th, 2019.
From then on, any flavored organic tea may no longer be declared
as 100% organic or carry the USDA organic seal if it is made with natural
flavoring that by itself is not certified organic. These teas now fall under the
new category “made with organic ingredients” and must be declared as
such.
Fortunately, this will only affect 10 of our flavored organic tea
blends (please enquire for a list) and we are currently working hard to be able
to offer you flavored organic alternatives very soon. If you carry any of these
flavored organic teas, be sure to change their label from “organic” to “made
with organic ingredients” as of December 27th, 2019. All of our 48 unflavored
teas listed in this catalog are not affected by this change in regulation and
can continue to be labeled as organic as well as carry the USDA organic
seal.
Here you can download our latest organic
certificate:
Since July 1, 2012, the EU organic label showing the form of a “EU leaf” is
mandatory on all packaging of organic products within the EU.
Our organic testing institute in Germany is Lacon with the code number:
DE-ÖKO-003.
Checkmark Dethlefsen & Balk-Control number
Lacon
GmbH, Offenburg
D-HH-003-00575-BCD-13595