Organic Processing and Trade Association

Chemical Residues in Organics

Pesticide mixtures from conventional agriculture are ubiquitous and their contamination on organic products may disqualify them from the market, resulting in economic losses for organic farmers and imbalances in the whole supply chain. There are other sources of unintentional contamination of organic products, such as undeclared ingredients in agricultural inputs or cumulation in perennial plants that remain detectable years after its application.

OPTA promotes solutions to:

  • Guide operators to handle possible non-compliance cases.
  • Alleviate the burden that a ‘zero tolerance on residues’ approach puts on the shoulders of organic operators coping with unintentional contamination.
  • Harmonization of residue handling based on the process-oriented approach of the EU organic regulation.

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