Do I Need to Be Certified Organic?

Most entities doing business in organic trade need to be certified: there are very few exceptions to this. Except for exempt operations, any operation that produces or handles organic agricultural products must be certified.

If you make a product and want to claim that it or its ingredients are organic, your final product probably also needs to be certified. In general, handle means to “sell, process, or package” organic products. The definition of handle also includes the following activities where there may be physical contact with agricultural products:

  • Combining, aggregating, and culling.
  • Conditioning and treating.
  • Packing, containerizing, repackaging, and labeling.
  • Storing, receiving, or loading.

Handling also includes the following activities where there may not be physical contact with the product:

  • Selling, trading, or facilitating the sale or trade.
  • Importing and exporting.

This list of handling activities is not exhaustive.

Who may not need to be certified?

The organic rule provides limited exemptions for some operations conducting certain low-risk activities. Exempt entities and activities include:

  • Operations that sell $5,000 or less in organic products each year.
  • Retail establishments that sell direct to consumers and do not process organic products.
  • Retail establishments that sell direct to consumers and only process organic products at the final point of sale. Common retail establishment examples include restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, delicatessens, salad bars and other stores that cook or prepare food.
  • Handling operations that only handle products containing less than 70 percent organic ingredients, or products that only identify organic ingredients on the information panel.
  • Operations that only receive, store and/or prepare for shipping, and do not otherwise handle, import or export:  Organic products that are received and remain in the same sealed, tamper-evident packaging; OR Organic products received that are already labeled for retail sale.
  • Operations that only buy and sell, and do not otherwise handle, import or export organic products received that are already labeled for retail sale.
  • Customs brokers who only conduct customs business activities for organic products but don’t otherwise handle them.

It is important to note that importing and exporting are NOT exempt activities. Creating a “certification handshake” across the border – so there is a certified exporter to the U.S. and a certified importer into the U.S. is key to maintaining the integrity of organic imports. The NOP Import Certificate provides traceability to the port of entry and ensures an auditable record trail to effectively trace imports back to exporters.

We encourage certification of all entities working in organic trade. A buyer may contractually require organic certification for its suppliers or handlers, even if the entities are legally exempt under the rule. Although certification may not be required for “exempt” operations, they may pursue voluntary organic certification. Exempt operations still need to comply with specific sections of the USDA organic regulations that apply to their operations.

Additional Resources