588: The standards, regulations and legislation required for organic ruminant keeping in the European Union

Rahmann, Gerold (2002) The standards, regulations and legislation required for organic ruminant keeping in the European Union. Paper presented at Organic meat and milk from ruminants, Athens, Greece, 4-6 October 2001; Published in Kyriazakis, I. and Zervas, G., Eds. Organic meat and milk from ruminants, Proceedings of a joint international conference organised by the Hellenic Society of Animal Production and the British Society of Animal Science, page pp. 15-26. Wageningen Academic Publishers.

Summary

Multinational formal regulations like 2092/91/EEC or 1804/99/EC are compromises because they have to take into consideration the different conditions of the partner countries. Many of the compromises need further emphasis and more specific descriptions for ruminants:
· Extended converting periods,
· Whole farm converting and no ability of converting just farm branches,
· Cross check of allowed farm inputs,
· Improved declarations of drugs, feeds, disinfections,
· Improved animal keeping in breeding, rearing, weaning, feeding,
· Adapted stocking rates for environmental issues: pollution and nature protection,
· Integration of trade (wholesaler, retailer) into the certification and
· Improved disease prevention strategies.
The organic farming regulations are process claims. Therefore, there are clear process qualities but this is no warranty for product qualities. It is even prohibited to claim that organic food is healthier than conventionally produced food. For organic milk and meat – the major ruminant products – product qualities have to be defined. Food safety standards like HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, WHO-standards) have to be implemented into the organic regulations. Finally the nature conservation intended by organic farming is not clearly described in the regulations. Ruminants are important in the maintenance of landscape and endangered biotopes. All of these aspects require further research to design policy frameworks to develop the regulations of organic animal husbandry.

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