The Reliability of Organic Certification: An Approach to Investigate the Audit Quality

Summary

Increasing complexity and first scandals indicate that the current control structures for organic food is insufficient. The main challenges are different methods of implementation on the national level and the collaborative responsibility between the public and the private sector. Both often cause lacking clarity and disagreements. The following contribution focuses on instruments to enhance the quality of certification of organic food. Only a few of the suggested instruments have been included as necessary requirements yet. Given the risk of deficient quality assurance and at the same time increasing control costs, it seems urgent to trigger discussions on risk-oriented auditing and to improve the current certification system.