Brief Introduction Standard
Inspection Program
Brief Introduction to Certification of Organic Products
according
to Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS)
Remark:
CERES –
CERtification of Environmental Standards GmbH – is an organic
certifier accredited by the competent Japanese authority (MAFF =
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), as a RFCO (=
Registered Foreign Certification Organization) for JAS organic.
1. What is organic
production according to JAS?
Organic
production for the Japanese market, as part of the new Japanese
Agricultural
Standards (JAS) is regulated by the following standards and
criteria (in the
form of Notifications) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fishery
(MAFF), all from year 2005:
Standards:
JAS
for Organic …
- ... Agricultural Products (No. 1605)
- …
Processed Foods (No. 1606)
- … Livestock Products (No. 1607)
- … Feeds (No. 1608)
Technical
Criteria
Criteria
for Production Process Manager:
Technical Criteria for Certifying Production Process Managers of
Organic …
- …
Agricultural Products and Feeds (No. 1830)
- … Processed Foods and Processed
Feeds (No. 1831)
- …
Livestock Products (No. 1832)
Criteria
for Re-Packer: Technical Criteria for
Certifying Re-Packers of Organic …
- …
Agricultural Products, Processed Foods, Feeds,
Livestock Products (No. 1833)
On
March
9, 2001,
MAFF officially
recognized the equivalence of EU regulation (EEC) 2092/91 with JAS
standards.
Thereafter, also USDA/NOP-Final was recognized as equivalent.
The
accomplishment of JAS is supervised by the Dept. of Standards and
Labeling of
the MAFF.
The
English version of JAS was published at: http://www.maff.go.jp/soshiki/syokuhin/hinshitu/e_label/index.htm
At this site, go to "Organic" (under
"Specific JAS", on the left side).
2. Differences
with EU regulation and NOP
Some
differences with EU regulation and NOP
Final Rule are:
- Unlike
EU regulation and NOP, Notification 1605 allows
the use of potassium chloride (KCl) formed by pulverizing or washing
and
refining the natural ore or those recovered from the natural brackish
water as
fertilizer.
- Unlike
EU regulation and NOP, Notification 1605 does
not allow the use of baking powder (potassium bicarbonate),
alkaline extract
of humic acids and lignosulfonates (mostly used as complex builder in
micronutrient fertilizer).
- Unlike
EU regulation and NOP, Notification 1831
explicitly mentions
that organic food
must "maintain superior quality of the raw material and the
products".
- The
main difference,
however, is that JAS requires a formally established "Grading
Procedure",
meaning that, before labeling the product and selling it to another
company or
directly exporting it to Japan, the "Grading Manager" must
verify,
whether organic standards and internal instructions have been
implemented
accordingly. For each lot, this grading procedure must be
documented on a
checklist, which has to be filed during at least one year.
- Organic
exports to Japan
must be labeled with the so-called "JAS
mark". This is a label that includes the name of the certifier and JAS.
Production managers and
grading responsibles must attend a JAS seminar, organized by a
approved
certifier, prior to inspection.
3. Who needs to be
certified?
Due
to the agreement on equivalence (see above), inside the EU and inside
the USA,
only the final handler
of the product needs to be JAS certified, if he is already EU or NOP
certified.
In other countries, all operators involved in the chain of
production must be
JAS certified. Farmer groups can be certified as such, if they have an
internal
control system (see Brief Info Group Certification). A processing or
export company
can take care of the internal control system and grading procedure of
their
group of suppliers.
Exporters,
who do not process, pack or label themselves, need not be JAS certified.
4. Formal steps
requested to obtain and maintain JAS certification
- (For
general steps to organic certification, please see our "Brief
information:
Steps to Certification". Below, we only describe steps, which
are
specific to JAS.)
- As
a
first step, the interested producer has to submit a JAS application
form to
CERES (different forms for farms, producer groups, for processors and
re-packers).
- The
company, farm or group must describe their Standard Operational
Procedure (SOP)
for the JAS grading system (see above N° 2; we worked out some
examples for
farms, farmer groups and processors, also see No. 5 further on).
- In
case
of units with or without a valid organic certificate (e.g. EU or NOP),
an
inspection has to take place, to verify the implementation of the
organic
management plan (OMP, see "Brief info: Steps to Certification) and the
grading SOP, and fulfillment of JAS standards, before the certificate
can be
issued.
- The
amount of fees for the inspection services of CERES are shown in the
"List of Fees", which can be found in the Document Counter (see List of Fees).
- CERES
evaluates the organic management plan, the grading SOP, and the
inspection
report, and, if necessary, clarifies open questions with the
responsible
inspector respectively with the applicant.
- Once
all
requirements are fulfilled, CERES will issue a JAS certificate.
Together with
the certificate, the unit will receive the CERES "JAS mark"
(see
further on, No 7).
- All
JAS certified operators have to inform the inspection body annually
about the
organic exports to Japan. The reference year is the Japanese economic
year
(April1 through March 31). The summarized information for the
previous year
must be submitted to the certifier by June 30.
Recertification is not
possible if this information is not submitted in time.
5. Details of the Grading System
Grading
means that PRIOR TO AUTHORIZING THE USE OF THE JAS SEAL the
person in charge (the Grading Manager) checks, that for the respective
lot the
outlined SOPs were followed. The result of this verification
has to be documented
in a checklist which
has to be filed during at least one year.
The
unit applying for JAS certification has to name a grading
manager. JAS establishes detailed criteria concerning
qualification and/or
experience of the grading manager. In groups or bigger companies, the
grading
manager can have his assistants. Like the responsibles for production,
the
grading manager has to attend a JAS seminar, prior to first JAS
inspection.
A
typical grading system works as follows:
*Not
always, the seal (JAS mark) will be placed
last. In many systems, the product arrives already with the seal. In
this case,
the grading manager verifies, whether the seal has the required
characteristics. If the product does not comply, the grading manager
makes sure
that the seal is withdrawn, or the product is put in another container,
without
JAS mark.
General
JAS Grading overview
|
|
Farms
|
Farmer
groups
|
Processors/Re-packers*
|
|
Minimum
requirements for grading manager
|
3
years of experience in agriculture or related research, or 2
years of high school level courses in agronomy
|
3
years of experience in agriculture, or a university degree in
agronomy plus 1 year of practical experience, or a high school degree
in agronomy plus 2 years of experience
|
3
years of experience in quality management. In case of
persons with a university degree, less practical experience is
required.
|
|
Who
can be grading manager
|
An
employee, but also the farmer himself, or the farm administrator
|
Usually,
the persons responsible for the internal control system
|
Must
be independent from the production and sales departments
|
|
Typical
reference documents for grading (depending
on the kind of production and process)
|
- Plot
history
- Invoices
for seeds, fertilizers and pest control products
- Field
diaries
- Harvest
diaries
- Packing
diaries
etc.
|
- Approved
farmers list
- Internal
inspection reports
- Processing
and packing diaries
etc.
|
- Reception
documents for raw material
- Copies
of certificates of raw material suppliers
- Storage
books
- Processing
protocols
-
Cleaning protocols
etc.
|
*
According
to JAS, re-packers are units, which only
distribute, clean, freeze or dry a product. In that case, you have to
apply for
certification as a "re-packer". Processors are units, which
really
transform the product, like mills, juice factories, etc.
6.
Documents required for JAS certification
ADDITIONAL
records required for JAS certification,
besides those, which are necessary according to EU regulation or NOP:
- Application
for JAS certification
- SOPs
for
JAS grading
- Documents
showing that these SOPs are being implemented for each lot sold with
JAS mark
- Records
of products sold with JAS mark
- In
case
of farms: Plot histories for all plots, for at least 3 years, including
details
on all fertilizers, amendments and plant protection products
used during this
time (in case the organic management plan does not include these
details)
- A
drawing
of all warehouses and other buildings belonging to the unit.
- Transport
records.
7.
Labeling requirements
All
products sold as
"JAS organic", must carry the JAS mark. Together with the
certificate, CERES will provide its clients an electronic version of
the
JAS-CERES seal. If
the products are shipped
to Japan in bags, the
JAS seal must be on each bag, or a JAS seal tag must be attached
to each bag. If the product is shipped in bulk
containers, the JAS seal
must appear on the Invoice or Bill of Lading. It is
recommended that the seal
appears both on the bulk products and the shipping documents. If the
official
shipping document cannot be altered, a page bearing the JAS seal can be
attached. The JAS certified repacker in Japan will repackage
the product and
put the JAS seal on the new packaging.
Details
of the seal:
It
must be used exactly in the form, which was
approved by the MAFF, and may not be altered. Any colour is permitted.
The
position of the JAS mark is not regulated by MAFF/ JAS. You may use the
JAS
seal in advertising material.
Further
information on the label:
The label must include information on the kind of
product, the organic condition, quantities, the operator number
assigned on the
JAS certificate, the company or farm name, a lot number and the country
of
origin.
8.
Issue
of Transaction Certificates
Unlike
NOP, JAS requires transaction certificates (TCs) to be issued by
certification bodies, for all organic exports from other countries to
Japan.
Unlike the situation in the EU, these TCs are usually not requested by
customs
authorities, but during the JAS inspection, the certification body has
to
check, whether TCs were requested and issued for all exports. Omitting
this
procedure, can put the JAS certification at risk.
Related
documents:
JAS
application form, JAS grading procedures, including an example of a
grading
checklist, report on sales of JAS labeled products (all for individual
farms,
groups, and processors/exporters)
Attention: In our Document Counter you
will find further information under the pdf-file "Detailed
description of JAS requirements".
Standard Inspection Program for JAS
All
relevant aspects have been integrated into the general Standard
Inspection Programs of CERES. Please shift to the respective area of
operation in order to study the Standard Inspection Programs there:
