On the supermarket shelf there are plenty of words that sound natural and only a few that mean something concrete. "Organic" is one that does: it's regulated, audited and verifiable. Here's what's behind it.
The Euro-leaf
The logo is a green leaf drawn with twelve stars. It isn't a brand logo or an association's badge: it's the European Union's official organic production logo, in use since July 2010 and regulated today by Regulation (EU) 2018/848.
Its appearance on a package isn't a design decision. It's the result of a certification.
The 95%
To be allowed to carry the Euro-leaf, at least 95% of the product's agricultural ingredients have to come from organic production. The rest can only come from a closed list of authorised ingredients.
That's why an organic product's ingredient list is usually short: the longer it is, the harder it is for everything to fit.
The code underneath
Next to the logo there's always a code that looks like this: ES-ECO-000-XX.
- ES — the country where the checks are carried out.
- ECO — the reference to organic production.
- 000 — the number of the control authority or body.
- XX — in Spain, the abbreviation of the autonomous community that certifies.
That code tells you who audited the product. It's the most useful part of the label and almost nobody looks at it.
Where the raw material comes from
Below the code comes an indication of agricultural origin: "EU Agriculture", "non-EU Agriculture" or "EU/non-EU Agriculture". The name of a country or region may also appear if all the raw materials come from there.
With coconut the answer is obvious: it doesn't grow in Europe. An organic coconut will carry "non-EU Agriculture" even if the product is made here.
That's what you'll see on our packaging: the coconut comes from outside the EU and the fermentation is done in Catalonia. You can check it on the 500 g natural fermented coconut, the individual 125 g size and the kefir-style fermented coconut.
"Eco", "bio" and "organic" aren't free adjectives
Within the European Union those three words are reserved by law for products that meet organic production rules. A package can't call itself "bio" just because it sounds good.
So, when in doubt, don't read the big adjectives on the front. Turn the package over and look for the leaf and the code.
If you want to know what happens inside the jar before it reaches the shop, we tell you in what fermented coconut is and how it's made. And you'll find COCO by Angela at your nearest shop.