28 Jul 2017

FEDERBIO hands successful Integrity platform to certifiers

Yes, the Italians have figured it out! Check Organic to the rescue...

FIP Figures as of June 2017

The key functionalities of Check Organic

Yes, the Italians have figured it out! After having been hit in past years by a number of grain scandals resulting in considerable economic loss and damage to the Italian organic brand, FEDERBIO – the organic and biodynamic umbrella organization, Intact – the provider of Ecert® integrity management solutions and Organic Services – the strategic brain behind the global integrity system ‘Check Organic’ decided to act. This was 4 years ago.

Today, about 63,000 farms are registered in the mass balance system. Even though the 2016 harvest was still voluntary, out of 900,000 tonnes of organic grain produced in Italy, about 600,000 tonnes are registered through real-time transactions. More than 200 traders and processors have signed-on so far; integrity that is achieved at minimal cost for each participant. With such uptake, the platform proves its attractivity to the sector.

Certification data is sourced from ‘Databio’ the organic database of the Italian Accreditor ‘Accredia’ into which all 10 organic certifiers enter data making them available in real-time on the platform.

Check Organic is the tool used to run the ‘Organic Integrity Database ,OIP’, as it has been recently renamed from ‘FIP’, when a network company of the organic certification bodies took over the platform from FEDERBIO. Organic Services as contractual partner of OIP will integrate ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil’ by October 2017.

Since January 1st, 2017 OIP is compulsory after the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests (MIPAFF) has endorsed the platform.