World meat industry news

 The State Duma adopted in the second and third readings a law allowing the use of the designations "eco", "bio" and the like for labeling only organic products, with some exceptions. This will reduce the market share of products that mislead consumers.

The document amends the law "On organic products and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation" in order to harmonize national legislation in the field of organic production.

Organic products are now understood as environmentally friendly agricultural products, raw materials and food, the production of which meets certain requirements (separate production, prohibition of the use of agrochemicals and pesticides, etc.)

Inscriptions for labeling such products may contain the word "organic", as well as its abbreviations or derivatives of this word, alone or in combination with the name of the product. At the same time, in the Russian food market, in addition to certified organic products, there are various products labeled "eco", "bio" and other similar ones. This makes it difficult for consumers to identify organic products.

According to the law, the words "biodynamic", "biological", "ecological", "environmentally friendly", "green" or similar words or their abbreviations, or the designations "eco", "bio" can only be used when labeling organic products. Thus, manufacturers will have to confirm the declared characteristics of such products before labeling them. This, in turn, will reduce the proportion of products that mislead consumers.

An exception is provided for only a few cases: if the technical regulations allow the use of the designation "bio" regardless of the method of production; the word "green" is used in labeling to indicate the color of the product or its degree of ripeness; the phrase "green standard" is used to label agricultural products, agricultural raw materials and food with improved characteristics.

The law will come into force on September 1, 2024. At the same time, the circulation of products released before this date, labeled with the words "biodynamic", "biological", "ecological", "environmentally friendly", "green", etc., or the designations "eco", "bio", with the production of which did not comply with the requirements established by law, is allowed until the expiration date of its shelf life.