All standards studied require that the use of additives should be kept to a minimum. Artificial flavours and colours are generally excluded. However, many governmental
regulation and the Codex Alimentarius1 rules allow nature-identical flavours, which
are chemically synthesised, whereas the private organic standards analysed exclude these.
When compared with laws in the non-organic food industry, organic food processing standards are generally stricter regarding the use of additives and processing aids (for definition see below). All organic standards include lists of substances that are permitted for processing, so called positive lists. The standards, except the NOP national list, place the majority of these substances into one of two main categories: food additives and processing aids. Most standards also regulate the use of water, salt, flavourings, microorganisms, and enzymes as well as cleaning agents.
Additives are substances added to improve the colour, fragrance, taste, shape, and
nutrition, as well as to satisfy the requirements of preserving and processing. They must be included in the ingredients list of a product.
By contrast, processing aids are substances used for certain technological purposes
during treatment, processing, or handling and are not declared in the ingredient list2,
even though unintentional but technically unavoidable traces of these or their residues can be found in the final product.
The so-called “positive lists” in the eight standards are exclusive, meaning that any substance that is not explicitly mentioned on the list cannot be used in organic food processing. As in the rest of the food industry, it is regarded as a best practice to use these substances only if necessary from a processing or product quality point of view, and then only in the minimal dose necessary.
Overall, the number of substances allowed in the different organic standards (e.g., the European Union has 71, and the US has 89) is significantly less than the approximately 430 substances appearing on the list of the International Numbering System for Food Additives (INS) of Codex Alimentarius.
Among the standards compared, governmental rules are the least specific when regulating the use of these substances, whereas the private standards, particularly the Demeter and Bio Suisse standards, are the most specific in this regard.
1 The Codex Alimentarius is the international food standards organization of the WHO and FAO of the United Nations.
2 With some exceptions such as baking enzymes which need to be declared in some countries and under some standards
Conclusions and outlook
The comparison of eight organic standards shows that the standards guiding and defining processing activities is complex. Overall, governmental standards are more general than private ones, with private ones offering more specific guidance as to what additives and processing aids, as well as processing methods, are allowed or not allowed.
Positive lists of permitted food additives and processing aids give clear guidance for the industry, but each standard uses a different categorisation, which makes comparisons difficult. The wording used in international standards (IFOAM Norms, Codex Alimentarius organic guidelines, and the EU regulations) is comparable. For example, any substance added should be found in nature and may have undergone only mechanical/physical processes (e.g., extraction, precipitation), biological/ enzymatic processes, and microbial processes (e.g., fermentation). Chemically synthesized substances are allowed only in certain exceptions (e.g. nature- identical flavours). All standards require that the consumer will not be deceived concerning the nature, substance, and quality of the food.
It will be important for the organic industry to discuss whether it is desirable or even necessary to aim for a more uniform set of standards for food processing and, if yes, how this can best be achieved (Kahl et al., 2014). An interesting question is also how processing standards affect sensory properties of food (Schmid, 2009), environmental impact, and sustainability (Beck and Henkel, 2012). Furthermore, the consequences of the current differences between the standards on topics such as market distortions, consumer perception, or equivalencies between the standards remains an interesting topic of study.
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