1. 2004 Annual General Meeting

The Conseil des appellations agroalimentaires du Québec (CARTV) held its annual general meeting on Thursday March 21, at 1:30 pm, at the Sandman Hotel (Montréal-Longueuil) at 999, de Sérigny in Longueuil.

On this occasion, Denis-Paul Bouffard, the CARTV’s Executive Director presented the annual report for 2004 as well as the CARTV’s major directions for the year 2005. Among the salient points, it is important to note:

• The review of the Permitted Substances Lists for agricultural and processing uses included in the Québec Organic Reference Standards;
• A greater co-operation with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadian in order to establish a Canadian organic system;
• Publishing information on certified products and licensed operators by means of an Internet data base;
• The statistical tracking of the evolution of the organic sector within Québec.

The entire 2004 annual report (French version only) may be obtained at:

http://www.caaq.org/documents/presse/rapports-rapport-annuel-2005.pdf

2. CARTV Executive Council Elections

During the Annual General Meeting elections took place to fill three positions on the Conseil d’accréditation (Accreditation Council) in charge of organic designation. The positions were for those representing farm producers, consumers and traders. The latter position was left vacant following Marc Périard’s decision to not seek a new mandate.

Frédéric Paré was re-elected as the consumer associations’ representative. Serge Nault retained his position as farm producers’ representative. Christiane Chabot, director of quality assurance at Provigo was elected to represent the traders. They will be in office for the next two years.

Following the election of these new Board members, the directors have elected a new executive committee.

Claire Bolduc has become president of the Board. Assisting her with her duties will be France Gravel, vice president. Jacques Van Greenhoven will occupy the treasurer’s position.

Congratulations to all those newly elected!

3. Organic Aquaculture Standard: from May 15, 2005

The CARTV Organic Aquaculture Standard comes into effect on May 15, 2005. This standard, the first in Canada and North America, establishes procedures for the organic designation of aquaculture products whatever their origins. Thanks to this initiative, all aquaculture sector enterprises involved in handling or production can easily guarantee the compliance of their products with CARTV requirements and other international organic standards, whether for national or international markets.

The complete Organic Aquaculture Standard document may be obtained at:

http://www.caaq.org/en/documents/consultations/aquaculture_standards.pdf

4. Canadian Regulation of Organic Products

As members of a Canadian delegation, Denis-Paul Bouffard and Christiane Chabot met this past April 21 with the Honourable Andy Mitchell, the Minister responsible for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The minister stated that he wanted to move quickly to organize the Canadian Organic sector in order to:

• Reassure consumers as to the authenticity of organic products;
• Enable the continued exportation of Canadian products to international markets.

The delegation also had an opportunity to meet with Joe Southall, head of the Organic Production System Task Force for CFIA (The Canadian Food Inspection Agency). The agency is presently examining a project involving, among other things, the following elements:

• A standard incorporating the principles set forth in the Codex Alimentarius and a list of permitted substances;
• The obligatory certification of every enterprise producing, preparing, importing, exporting, distributing or selling organic products on the Canadian market whenever these products are sold under the name of the enterprise;
• The accreditation of certification bodies by agencies recognized by CFIA;
• The creation and non-obligatory use of a logo that could be affixed to solely Canadian agricultural and agri-food products.

According to the agency, it will take about two years to put such a program in place. The program will cover agri-food products, animal feed and possibly ingredients of agricultural origin. Personal care products, plant fiber products, pet food and landscape maintenance products are not included for the time being.

5. New Certification Bodies

The CARTV has given accreditation to three new organizations since the beginning of 2005. They are:

• The American Food Safety Institute (AFSI), Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (USA) for products of United States origin only. Approved March 10, 2005.
• INAC GmbH (International Nutrition and Agricultural Certification), Witzenhausen (Germany) for all products except those originating in Québec. Approved March 10, 2005.
• The Montana Department of Agriculture, Helena, Montana (USA) for products of United States origin only. Approved April 11, 2005.
  

6. Direct Mail to Retailers

On April 11 this year the CARTV carried out the largest mail out campaign in its history. Thanks to the assistance of MAPAQ's Food Inspection Office, the CARTV was able to send a letter outlining the requirements for the marketing of products with organic content to more than 12,000 businesses. The most important requirement was the obligatory certification of all enterprises providing processing or subsequent packaging of organic products (breaking up lots, bulk sales, packaging and relabelling under their own brand).

The letter produced a large number of telephone inquiries about the certification of retailers as well as a number of mail orders for the Best Practices Guide (for the handling of certified organic foodstuffs intended for retail sales in Québec) published in March 2005 by the CARTV.

CARTV Board of Directors

CARTV Personnel