Information on voluntary Certification - Foodcert India

21A certificate is a written guarantee by an independent certification agencythat the production process or the product complies with certain standards.These standards can focus on environmental issues (such as soilconservation, water protection, pesticide use, or waste management), orsocial issues (such as producer income, workersû rights, occupationalhealth and safety) or on other aspects of production like food safety.Why do these programmes exist?Certification brings opportunities to producers such as market access,protection of local resources, improvement of workersû health and livingconditions of rural communities. It may also ensure consumer health.Consumers are increasingly aware of the social and environmental problemsassociated with the production and trade of the food they consume. Inresponse to these concerns, different types of certification programmeshave been developed by private organizations or governments.Yeah- did you see howlow the market price hasfallen for conventionallychee?Itûs a good thingwe got organiccertification.Why certify?Certification is used todemonstrate that a product hasbeen produced in a certain wayor has certain characteristicscomplying with a standard. It ismainly used when the producerand the consumer are not in directcontact, for instance in theinternational market where theconsumer cannot easily verify thatthe product was produced in themanner described by the producer.