Organic Sector is growing in Europe
The new association OPTA empowers the voice of processors and traders
More than 60 people representing the organic sector attended the first OPTA workshop that dealt with a pressing issue for the sector: the unallowed residue findings in organic products
Nuremberg, 19.02.2019. Since twenty years the world of organic, fair and conscious agriculture meets at the “Biofach” in Nuremberg. The continous growth of the “bio” phenomenon demonstrate the consumer’s demand and the desire of companies to foster the transition of our food system. To reach that goal, organic processors and traders must speak with one voice and have a good exchange in Europe. That’s why the members of the new organic association OPTA met at Biofach in Germany, during a workshop organized to deepen the knowledge transfer when it comes to residue findings.
After four presentations from processors’ and traders’ perspectives, the European Parliament’s expert Hannes Lorenzen welcomed very much the broad know how gathered in OPTA and invited the association to compile the findings and interact with the European Commission and Parliament.
At the end of the debate that saw a great interaction with the public, OPTA board members were satisfied with this first official event, promising that others will follow.
“We experience that OPTA members have a braod knowledge about implementation of organic law across Europe. We strongly foster the exchange between our members in order to support organi growth”, said Benedetta Merlo, the association manager at the end of an OPTA meeting at Biofach.
OPTA Board Member Janis Garancs (Alojas, Latvia) declared “that organic movement and organig sector is growing fast and now we need to reach a common understanding on organic as a whole, and this is what we want to achieve with OPTA.”
Board Member, Paolo Frigati (The Organic Factory Group, Italy), echoes this declaring that “Europe needs a reality like OPTA, to have a common voice for processors and traders at European level for a growing sector that needs to become stronger every day.”
One factor to reach that goal, is to support the exchange of processors and traders within all European countries. “This is so important for the supply chain”, said Board Member Manuel Hutten (Eosta, Netherlands). “Our members have lot of knowledge on trading and import and on several technical issues, thanks to OPTA we can share this knowledge.” Board Member Karst Kooistra (Tradin Organic, Netherlands) supported that “the board wants to reach concrete action, among them the residues topic is on the OPTA desk, in the next months we will take concrete action on it.”Board Member Elisa Jäkel (HIPP, Germany), finally concluded that “OPTA wants to strengthen the voice of organic processors and traders in the EU. And we want to raise the awareness that we need a broad variety of organic processors and traders to reach the goal of 100 percent organic farming.”
Nex appointment with OPTA EU will be in Latvia, where the association will organize a workshop. European organic processors and traders that are interested in joining OPTA can take part upon invitation.
Organic Processing and Trade Association Europe (OPTA):
The goal of the new founded association is to empower the progress of organic food and farming in Europe in close cooperation with our customers, the organic farmers and other partners of the organic supply chain. The 15 founding companies from several EU countries are convinced that OPTA will stimulate the further innovation and quality development of organic products, based on the organic principles.
The aim is to present OPTA as a united group of industry leaders in the agrifood sector that are relevant economical player and a competent organization towards policy-makers and other stakeholders in Brussels. For OPTA members food quality is central in order to ensure and further strengthen the processed based holistic quality approach for food and human nutrition.
OPTA Members are:
Aboca S.p.a. Società Agricola (Italy), Balkanfruit GmbH (Bulgaria), De Groene Weg/Vion (The Netherlands), DO-IT BV (The Netherlands), EOSTA (The Netherlands), Freiland Puten Fahrenzhausen (Germany), Green Organics (The Netherlands), Gruppo Fileni (Italy), Hipp (Germany), La Sanfermese Spa (Italy), L.D.C. (France), Ulrich Walter GmbH (Germany), SIA Aloja Starkelsen (Latvia), The Organic Factory (Italy), Toppas Organic Production (Serbia), Tradin Organic Agriculture B.V. (The Netherlands), Spack (the Netherlands) Balkanfruit (Bulgaria)
Contact: www.opta-eu.org | info@opta-eu.org