The National Animal Industry Foundation, under the COAs guidance, has passed the qualification screening as a certifying organization in the cause of promoting the identification of organic livestock products. From that very day onward, National Animal Industry Foundation has begun to handle accreditation of organic livestock products.

According to the COA, the consumers now pay much more attention to food safety and are commonly under the impression that organic livestock products are cleaner, healthier, and more environmentally friendly. European nations, United States and Japan have formulated globalized standards for organic agricultural products and also set up standards for labeling to help consumers make informed decisions. In cope with this trend, the government initiated the management and regulations for these organic products at 2003. Specifically, the enactments are: “Operating Guidelines for Management of Organic Agricultural Products”, “Production Standards for Organic Agricultural Products–Animal Products”, “Review Operating Procedure for Qualifications of Certifying Organizations for Organic Agricultural Products” and “Operating Directions for Accreditation of Agricultural Quality Product Label and Certification”.

The accreditation system of organic livestock products in Taiwan follows the precedent countries to authorize to the non-profit organizations for conducting the certification. The COA set up an Organic Livestock Products Technical Assistance Committee to oversee the qualifications for every organizations applying for certification. However, those in charge of producing organic livestock products confront many difficulties, such as, the small land scale, high cost as well as, and inadequate organic fodder supply etc. These problems certainly make production harder. Therefore, the National Livestock Industry Foundation is the only one certifying organization approved by the COA besides the other four organizations accrediting the organic crop products to handle the accreditation of organic livestock products.

The COA indicates that the review operation of qualifications shall, in accordance with the “Review Operation for Qualifications of Certifying Organizations for Organic Agricultural Products”, include the review of written documents, on-site check at the applying organization’s premises, on-site check at the producer’s premises and spot-check of products. The National Animal Industry Foundation presently has passed through the review of written documentation, and from that day, the applications for the identification of organic livestock products can be transacted. The proprietors who are inclined to be engaged in the identification of organic livestock products please contact with National Animal Industry Foundation at +886-2-2363-8724.