Fake organic products a blight on market that must be rooted out

VOICE OF CHINA has reported some companies in Beijing label nonorganic vegetables as organic produce. Although the Beijing municipal government has taken immediate actions to investigate the case, it exposes institutional loopholes in the supervision of the organic agriculture industry. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Genuine organic agricultural producers must strictly follow the requirements for that designation, which adds to their operational costs. But slack supervision means nonorganic products can easily be passed off as organic.

The supervision of organic agriculture is costly for the industrial and food watchdogs, as it entails huge inputs of manpower in the supervision of the whole industrial chain, as there are requirements for almost every link of the chain, from soil to storage.