Organic Food Biological Standards

For a farm to have crops and livestock that is certified as organic it has to meet certain Biological Standards.  They must comply with production and handling regulations.  They must allow inspectors to visit the farm and do on-site testing.  They must be able to go back in their record keeping and prove the organic operations for at least the five previous years.  There are few differences in organic produce that is grown nationally and internationally.

There are standards in place for animal and meat products specific to organic standards as well as produce.  Requirements include animal identification on the farms, how the animals are transported to the slaughterhouse, identifying slaughtered animal pieces.  There should be a register listing the date the animal entered the slaughterhouse, authentication code of the animal, animal origin, date of slaughtering.

Other information that is required is the destination of each animal part and the name of the slaughter house.  These Biological Standards are in place for several reasons.  For a farm to maintain the "certified organic" label these requirements must be met, but also for health reasons.  If a health condition arises and needs to be traced back the government will have all the steps in place to track any part of the animal back to its beginnings.

Organic Market Gardening has to be done under strict standards.  A person cannot just start a garden and say they are growing organic food.  In order for a farmer to take his garden to the store and sell as organic it has to go through a lot of government red tape.  Inspectors will want to come out to his farm and carry out inspections.  It will be at least five years before a crop can go to market and records must be kept on every step of the crop that is being "certified organic".  The same is true for livestock that is raised as organic.  Records must be maintained of all feeding, activities throughout the animal’s lifetime.  And then records and documentation of all steps of the slaughtering must be provided.

It is not a simple process to begin organic market gardening at home and should not be done as just a fad.  If you plan on raising organic food for you and your family that is good, but before you go into the business be sure you are aware of all of the rules and regulations that the government requires before you attempt it.  There is a lot of information available on the internet and you can always contact your local FDA officials for more information.