News

04.05.2018 CERES invited to NOSB Spring Meeting in Tucson, Arizona

(Photo: CCOF)

The National Organic Standard Board (NOSB) plays a key role in development of the NOP ruling. This year, CERES managing partner Albrecht Benzing was invited to participate in an expert panel on organic imports from outside the US, together with Sam Welsch (Onecert), Silke Fuchshofen (IOIA), Jake Lewin (CCOF), and five US organic industry representatives. After the scandal with large amounts of conventional grains being imported from Turkey and other countries as ‘organic’ to the US, the NOP is seeking for better ways to stop such fraud. During the panel on 26 April 2018, Albrecht Benzing shared CERES’ experience with fraud in several countries. He stressed the importance of more effective oversight of certification bodies by the accreditors. Without such oversight, there is a risk of certifiers’ business interests overriding the integrity of the certification process. A very lively discussion with the other panelists and the NOSB members followed, and will hopefully contribute to implementing the necessary steps.
(https://www.ams.usda.gov/event/national-organic-standards-board-nosb-meeting-tucson-az)

20.04.2018 Important Update for CERES clients in China

05.01.2018

31.08.2017
CERES has been accredited as certification body for the Fair Wild Standard

Please refer to the link here

29.05.2017
The new TRACES System for Import of Organic Products into the European Union

The European Union requires Certificates of Inspection (COI, also called transaction certificates) for each import of organic products from third countries. Through Regulation (EC) 2016/1842, the European Commission established new rules for improving the traceability of organic products and reducing potential fraud. In the future, COIs will no longer be issued on paper, but electronically through the so called TRACES System. These will be called “e-COI”.

For more details see following links:

12.05.2017
CERES in der Washington Post // "The labels said "organic."
But these massive imports of corn and soybeans weren't

..."One of the largest inspection agencies, a German company known as Ceres, appears to do rigorous testing. Ceres conducts most of its tests on plant leaves, rather than on fruits, a method that can be more likely to detect pesticide use. Their results from China, as a Ceres official said, were “quite shocking.” Of 232 samples that Ceres tested from the Chinese organic farms, 37 percent showed more than traces of pesticide residue. “This is the reality we are battling with in China,” said Albrecht Benzing of Ceres."

See more here.

15.02.2017
CERES in the german Media // Biokaffee aus Äthiopien

Bio-Siegel außer Kontrolle

Dementi zum Pfuschvorwurf

31.12.2016
Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture