Indian Programme for Organic Production

The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) has been created in India with the aim of introducing and implementing standards for organic production, farming and accreditation. Because of three basic requirements with relation to the definition of ‘organic food’—high quality for ready-to-eat foods, absence of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and additives with preservation functions, and labelling assurances for diet—the Indian traditional agriculture has been judged the ideal procedures. Despite mutual acknowledgement of NPOP standards on the international level, at present many rejections have been observed for Indian products so far particularly at EU border.

SWOT Scenario for Food Quality Assurance and Organic Certification in India

NPOP, as well as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and recognised laboratories, are interested in the expansion of organic farming and food quality assurance systems, including ‘hazard analysis and critical control points’ (HACCP) approaches. On the other side, certain coordination with the forest department would be expected and useful at present (Sharma 2014). For these reasons, a SWOT analysis of Indian food quality assurance systems and organic certifications may be carried out and related results can be shown in Sects. 4.6.3.1 and 4.6.3.2, respectively.