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Many Australian companies are now selling bottled water claiming to be not only pure and natural but also organic. This was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald last week:

The practice of labelling water organic - expressly banned under the national standard that defines organic produce - has been allowed to go unchecked, with the bottlers buying their credentials from the country’s largest organic certifier.

An investigation had found at least five bottlers had paid about $1100 each for authorisation by the certifier and subsequently used that authorisation to make the claims.

However, according to the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce, water cannot be produced or harvested and labelled as organic or biodynamic, and rightly so. It’s just a way for businesses to try and get a share of the growing organic food market in Australia.

It is believed that misleading labelling in the organic sector is becoming a serious problem which is leading to consumer confusion and mistrust. There is currently no standard for organic labelling. Standards Australia is hoping to rectify this in the near future with a national certification standard.

Not only is there confusion with standards within Australia but also between national and international standards. There was recent controversy regarding organic chicken exports. Australian organic chicken was banned for international export as it did not meet international organic standards, although it continues to be sold as organic in the Australian market.

Hopefully this will get sorted out before the organic industry loses all credibility.

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