Organic items in plastic or smaller range due to strict rules: ‘Administrative fair’ | Economy

Ekoplaza franchisee Pieter Tent can speak to this: he sells no fewer than 7,000 different items in his organic supermarkets in Utrecht and Zoetermeer. From vegetables, fruit, meat and fish to countless other foodstuffs. “Almost every product is certified, only a handful of products do not require this,” he says. Like water and salt. “That cannot be certified as organic.” Neither do cosmetics and self-care items.

Good enforcement is of course important, Tent acknowledges. Cheating should not occur. “The consumer should be able to assume that the products purchased are really ‘organic’.” But now the controls by the regulator Skal Biocontrol are completely ineffective, he believes. He speaks of an ‘administrative fair’ that takes a lot of work and money. “And then, as a franchisee, I am lucky that Ekoplaza takes so much work off my hands.”

He cites numerous examples, from his own experience and on behalf of the interest group Het Vakcentrum, where he is chairman of the branch board for organic specialty stores. “Suppose my store or a delicatessen wants to sell nut blends. If I buy three bags of organic nuts, mix them and give the result a name, it counts as my own brand. Then I have to apply for a certificate. While all nuts are demonstrably organic.”

One of the most time-intensive requirements is the ‘mass balance’ that every organic retailer must maintain by supervisor Skal. “We must register all purchased and sold organic items in kilos.” A huge hassle, because fruit and vegetables are often sold individually and delivered daily. “If I sell a hundred cucumbers or fifty packets of tea, the receipt is not enough. Everything must be converted into kilos.”

Tent receives support from the Advisory Board for the Assessment of Regulatory Burden (ATR). The requirements are difficult to comply with, especially for stores that sell both organic and regular products, the ATR writes to Minister Piet Adema (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality). Such as the obligation to keep the organic range completely separate from regular products, which is very expensive and is intended to prevent mixing.

Due to all the rules, an increasing number of shops and supermarkets are cutting back on their organic range, notes research agency Panteia, which examined the rules on behalf of the ATR. Entrepreneurs are switching to products with alternative labels such as ‘Better life’, ‘Fair Trade, ‘Eko’, ‘MSC’ or ‘locally produced.’ The result is a smaller, less diverse organic offering for consumers. “This creates confusion for consumers and may be harmful to consumer confidence in organic products,” the ATR said.

Quite a few specialty stores and supermarkets also opt for pre-packed organic items, which are subject to less strict rules. An organic cucumber or cheese is then placed on the shelves in plastic, something that many consumers dislike.

Ekoplaza owner Pieter Tent understands that. “Look, as a retailer it is very nice to place a box of organic apples and introduce customers to them in an accessible way. However, those apples sold separately come with all kinds of requirements and that costs a lot of money. So then you think: I’ll pack them in plastic. So you are already seeing a decrease in organic products sold separately.”

The high regulatory pressure leads to high costs. A small store easily pays 10,000 euros per year or more to comply with all regulations, the ATR calculates. This amounts to tens of millions of euros for all of the more than 20,000 points of sale in our country.

The Advisory Board on Regulatory Burden therefore advocates less strict enforcement: for example, shops and specialty stores that have their affairs in order do not have to be inspected annually. The rules surrounding the mass balance can also be made more flexible, according to the ATR, which advises outgoing Minister Adema to enter into discussions with supervisor Skal Biocontrol. The minister must also discuss in Brussels how the sharp edges of the rules can be removed.

The Vakcentrum, which represents the interests of 2,800 independent specialty shops, delicatessens and supermarkets, is happy with the recommendations.

“The problem is that supervisor Skal Biocontrol implements European rules very strictly,” says director Patricia Hoogstraaten. She explains that the Netherlands was reprimanded by Brussels in 2019 over controls on organic products. To the annoyance of the European Commission, supervisor Skal did not inspect individual branches of supermarket and other retail chains at the time. “After that, however, they had a regulatory reflex.”

The many rules are unworkable for shops and only make organic products more expensive, says the Vakcentrum. “Let’s be honest, organic food often costs a lot more,” says Hoogstraaten. “After all, organic farmers and gardeners do not achieve the volumes that are achieved in regular agriculture.”

The organic sector has also suffered major blows from the corona crisis, adds entrepreneur Pieter Tent. “The costs of implementing all the rules eat away at the entire profit margin for some stores.” He therefore understands that fellow entrepreneurs say: this way it will be too expensive for me, I will switch to other sustainable products with labels such as Fair Trade or Better Life. “Or I just package them, because that requires a little less administrative effort.”

He spends all his time collecting packing slips, he says. “At a time when more and more things are done digitally and we want to get rid of paper, I find myself filling in lists.” Tent also has to prove that it purchases its products from a bona fide, certified intermediary. “I constantly have to request certificates from my suppliers and send them to supervisor Skal. However, they have been registered with them for a long time. So I’m checking something that they have checked for a long time.”

And so the supply of organic products is unnecessarily lagging behind, says Tent. It is not the consumer’s fault. Dutch people like to buy organic products, according to recent figures from industry club Bionext and market researcher GfK. The turnover of organic products increased by 14.6 percent last year to 1.6 billion euros. Organic vegetables, fruit, fish and meat are particularly popular. At the same time, industry club Bionext noted that supply was lagging behind and that growth could have been much higher. An important cause of this appears to be the high regulatory pressure.

The Vakcentrum hopes that Minister Piet Adema (Agriculture) will adopt the ATR’s recommendations. “The monitoring of compliance with the rules could really be reduced a notch,” says director Hoogstraaten. Take the exemption for small entrepreneurs who generate only a minimal part of their turnover from organic products. “They now have to prove in detail why they are exempt, which means there is still considerable regulatory pressure.”