British organic food producers concerned about having a Brexit without agreement

The UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and 30 other industry organisations sent an official letter to the UK Brexit negotiators in mid-September to express their deep concern about the future of trade and certification of organic products between the UK and the EU.

The letter warns of detrimental impacts on the organic market, highlighting that organic food exports from the UK face being excluded from the EU market if mutual agreement between the UK and EU is not achieved by the end of the year.

As Confectionery Production reports, global sales of organic products are rapidly approaching £100 billion and the UK is the world's 9th largest organic market. Organic food and drink sales also boomed during the lockdown earlier this year, with the sector on track to hit the £2.6bn mark by the end of the year, exceeding the £2.5bn originally projected, more than £100 million above the most optimistic forecasts.

However, unless organic standards 'equivalence' is secured as part of the negotiations, the UK will lose access to EU markets automatically at 11pm on 31 December 2020. It would bring significant practical and financial problems for a dynamic, fast-growing and highly prized part of the British food scene.

In this respect, certificates issued by the control authorities and bodies in the UK will no longer be valid for organic products marketed in the EU after the end of the transition period and would also hinder marketing in the opposite direction.

Northern Ireland manufacturers could furthermore lose access to some essential sources of organic ingredients and products from Great Britain in favour of goods from EU Member States, which would not need additional certification requirements.

Furthermore, the origin labelling of foodstuffs will have to distinguish UK foodstuffs as being of non-EU origin, so the label of organic products will have to show "Non-EU Agriculture" where the raw material has been grown outside the EU, as would be the case in the UK from January 1st.

Chairman of The UK Organic Certifiers Group, Roger Kerr, stressed that "the market for organic food is an essential, and growing, part of the UK's import and export economy and is one of a very few sectors which potentially face overnight exclusion from a vital market if a mutual recognition agreement between the UK and EU is not achieved before the December 31st deadline".