Act on Environmentally Friendly Agriculture & Fishing Industry Promotion and Supervising& Supporting Organic products
Detailed Implementation Process on the Certification of Organic Fish and Fishery Products (Notification No.2013-20 of the NFQS)
Objects for Certification (Notification No.2013-20 and No.4 of the NFQS)
Organic fish and fishery products: laver, oyster, mussel, sea mustard, kelp
Organic processed food: any produced, processed, and distributed food using organic seafood
Non-antibiotic fish and fishery products: halibut, rainbow trout, eel, abalone, leg lobster
Products without active treatment agent: laver, sea mustard, hijikia, kelp, dried laver, dried sea mustard, salted sea mustard
Person in charge: a person purchasing products certified under No.1 or No.4 and repackaging with different quantity (excluding unpackaged products and randomly packaged products)
Certification standard
Certification standard checklist in document check
Management control: check a production plan including production process
Farm condition: check the water quality test result conducted within 1 year
Seedlings selection: check the health status (free from disease)
Feed and nutrition control: annually check feed examination result
Certification standard checklist in on-site examination (Appendix 3 of the Regulation)
Management control: Check if at least one appropriate production manager is appointed when a production group needs certifying. (Appropriate manager means a person in charge of preliminary examination completing over 6 hour-training of quality control)
Cultivation control
Check if each faming facility labels the identify number and confirms the farming record
Check if prohibited drugs for animal use, chemicals or organic acids are used
Animal welfare and disease control
Check if the record of prescription and usage of animal medication is maintained in case of disease outbreak
Check if drug-free interval/withdrawal period elapsed twice for shipment (at least 1 week of the period)
Check if medication containing water tanks are under control (labelled with the medication information)
Check if medication containers are separately maintained with proper lock device
Feed and nutrition control: check if prohibited synthetic chemical compound, synthetic nitrogen, non-protein nitrogen compound, or other materials were used
Verification of product standard
Organic fish and fishery products: drugs for animal use should remain less than one tenth of residue quantity permitted
Non-antibiotic fish and fishery products: drugs for animal use should remain less than half of residue quantity permitted
Products without active treatment agent: use of organic acid is prohibited
Harvesting products: check the record of shipment of certified products
Transportation management: check appropriate oxygen level, and hygienic management of water and ice used in transporting
Ingredients for processing
Check if non-organic ingredients other than water and salt should not exceed 5% of weight of the product
Check if water and salt are appropriately used under Article 5 of Drinking Water Management Act and Article 7 of Food Sanitation Act, respectively
Raw material management: check labels of organic food, delivery statement, transaction record and the certificate when raw materials are used
Processing method
Check if prohibited additives, supplement agent, or other materials are used which chemically react or mutate food
Check if prohibited materials including ionizing radiation, asbestos are used which negatively affect food and the environment
Packaging: check if prohibited materials including synthetic germicide, preserved agent, fumigants are used
Facility standard for work: check if the facility meets the standard of Appendix 14 of Enforcement Regulation of Food Sanitation Act (Facility Standard by Type of Business)
Quality control of the product: check if certified products have labels of lot number, standard barcode, or electric tag
Labelling (Appendix 5 of the Regulation)
“Organic food” can be marked as “organic fish and fishery product” or “organic processed food” by its type
Certification apply process
Apply → document check → on-site examination → notify the result and issue certification → follow-up management (semi-annually or quarterly inspect the production process, semi-annually distribution process, random inspect)