The preparation, storage, marketing, import and export of organic food and feed are regulated in the Organic Farming Ordinance.
Organic food and feed should be as natural as possible, which is why processing should be carried out carefully, with biological, mechanical and physical methods preferred.
For organic food, at least 95 per cent of the weight of the ingredients of agricultural origin must be organic. A maximum of five per cent of the weight of the ingredients may consist of authorised non-organic ingredients that are demonstrably not available on the market in organic quality.
Water and salt do not count as agricultural ingredients.
Since many processing plants produce both conventional and organic food and feed, the flow of products must be separated. It is therefore important to ensure that they are separated not only physically in the processing plant, but also with a time delay. This ensures that organic and non-organic food or feed cannot mix.
Preparation of organic products
When preparing organic products, the use of additives, non-organic ingredients with primarily technical and sensory functions, micronutrients and processing aids must be kept to a minimum. Their use is only permitted in cases where there is a major technological requirement or it is for particular nutritional purposes. The substances approved for this purpose are regulated in the EAER Organic Farming Ordinance (SR 910.181, Annex 3).
