*The Importance of Packaging in Certified Organic Food: A Matter of Conscience DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107408*

These regulatory entities, which are country-specific, create the regulations and requirements that must be satisfied in order for the producer to ensure the conformity of his product. The certification procedure is a great technique for verifying and validating legal conformity. As each country has its own laws and certification processes, each country also has its own conformity seals.

Regrettably, unlike ISO standards (International Standard Organization), there is no single certification standard for all countries. As a result, each country has its own set of rules. The lack of regulatory equality makes free trade difficult, and those farmers who want to export their products, they have to pay the cost of certification in each country.

In the case of the United States and the European Union, there is already a bilateral agreement that allows certain products to be accepted. Except for Chile, the organic seal (**Figure 1**) for Brazil is not recognized in any other country.

In Brazil, all certified organic products sold in commercial establishments must have on their labels a seal that identifies compliance with current regulations (**Figure 1**). This requirement is included in the normative instruction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, IN 50/2009 [13].

In the United States, certification is based (**Figure 2**) on rules set by the USDA-NOP National Organic Program—Part. 205-311 [14]. In Brazil, products must also have the seal of conformity shown in **Figure 1**.

The member countries of the European Union also require labeling containing the seal of compliance, as decided by the European Council [10]- item 25 issued on 06/28/2007, and No. 889/2008 issued on 09/05/2008 and No. 834/2007 [15].

The European Council set out all the requirements for certification that are applicable to all member states. The Seal of Conformity, shown in **Figure 3**, is used in the whole European Union on products that are packaged for retail sale and on items that are imported from countries that are not part of the European Community. They must be certified in accordance with Community regulations.

Organic products are those that comply with the regulations attested by the certification bodies. Products processed with organic raw materials are recognized as organic if at least 95% of their content is composed of organic ingredients [16–18]

**Figure 1.** *Brazilian organic seal [12].*

**Figure 2.** *USDA organic seal [14].*

#### **Figure 3.** *European Community biological (organic) seal.*

In the United States, the USDA-NOP National Organic Program - Part 205 classifies products as (a) "100% organic", (b) "Organic"—with at least 95% organic ingredients, and (c) "made with organic ingredients"—composed at least of 70% organic ingredients, and maximum 30% from conventional agriculture [14].

Similarly, in Brazilian regulation, a product having composition from 70% to 95% as organic ingredients shall be labeled as a "product with organic ingredients". In this case, it is not a normative requirement to report which ingredients are organic, but some producers prefer to explicitly put them on the label [18].

Although each country's regulations establish specific rules for the use of seals, they are still not representative. This is because many consumers have difficulties recognizing these seals and what they exactly mean. Aggravated, most consumers are unaware of the regulatory requirements that food must meet to bear the seal of compliance.

This lack of consumer awareness stems from a lack of information and visibility of certification seals. One way to leverage this market would be the more effective participation of public authorities. In countries where the government has drastically influenced the adoption of public policies in this sector, organic production has grown and consequently, consumption has grown, as is the case in Ethiopia [19] and Australia [20]. In Ethiopia, the government took strong steps and gave subsidies to encourage the change of conventionally farmed land into organically farmed land.

Visibility and awareness actions will make the seals play an important role in the consumer's choice of product at the time of purchase.

Another critical challenge is making consumers know how to associate the seal with all the difficulties that producers have to overcome to meet numerous regulatory requirements. It is not only about financial difficulties, but also that farmer have many difficulties in maintaining the integrity and seasonality of the crop, defeating diseases and pests, and using natural methods of control and combat. When a product arrives at retail with an organic seal on the label, it is an achievement for every producer, and this achievement, without a doubt, deserves to be recognized by consumers [21].
