Definition: Processing of organic food

Category: EU legislation

In addition to the overall principles set out in Article 4 (Organic production), the production of processed organic food shall be based on the following specific principles:

(a) the production of organic food from organic agricultural ingredients, except where an ingredient is not available on the market in organic form;

(b) the restriction of the use of food additives, of non organic ingredients with mainly technological and sensory functions and of micronutrients and processing aids, so that they are used to a minimum extent and only in case of essential technological need or for particular nutritional purposes;

(c) the exclusion of substances and processing methods that might be misleading regarding the true nature of the product;

(d) the processing of food with care, preferably with the use of biological, mechanical and physical methods. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:189:0001:0023:EN:PDF