German Trade and Import Associations » Quality Standards, Controlling Bodies/Ecolabels Online Newsletters and other Sources of Information » German Fairs » Quality Standards, Controlling Bodies/Ecolabels BCS OEKO-GARANTIE GmbH Private controlling agency, which certifies organic products worldwide This provides supervision of ecological agriculture and is also internationally represented. Please find the addresses of the international representation offices here. The homepage is available in English, German and Spanish. BLE - Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (Germany) On the homepage of BLE you will get information on quality standards for fruit and vegetables in German and partially in English and French. In order to get the list of quality standards of fruit and vegetables please click here. In order for you to work with the list we have prepared translations for the fresh fruit and vegetables. Please click here to download this information. BLL - German Federation of Food Law and Food Science (Germany) The Bund fur Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde (BLL) is an umbrella organisation, its members coming from all sectors of the food industry, especially associations and companies stemming from industry, trade and commerce, the craft professions, agriculture, and associated fields. As a representative body of the German food industry, the BLL works towards a harmonisation and the further development of food law at national, European, and international level. It supports efforts to cut down on bureaucracy and strives to ensure appropriate levels of consumer protection. Codex Alimentarius The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations (English, French, Spanish). BfR - Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Germany) The BfR is the scientific body of the Federal Republic of Germany that prepares expert reports and opinions on questions of food safety and consumer health protection on the basis of internationally recognised scientific assessment criteria. BfR formulates action options for risk reduction, it is the German equivalent to EFSA. The homepage is available in English and German. BMELV - Federal Ministry Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (Germany) The website of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection is in German and partially in English, the law texts are available only in German. BVL - Federal Institute for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Germany) For Germany, the BVL has the task of ensuring consumer health protection as well as a comprehensive and efficient risk management in general. Risk assessment and communication for the German Government, on the other hand, are the tasks of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The homepage is available partially in English. Ecolabel ("Bio-Siegel", Germany) The German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection has introduced an national ecolabel called Bio-Siegel in order to assist consumers to identify organic food at a glance. In Germany many ecolabels exist, but this ecolabel is an attempt to unify them for the consumers' sake. The homepage is available in English and German. EFSA - European Food Safety Authority Established in 2002, the EFSA is the new scientific body for risk assessment of the EU, providing independent scientific advice on all matters linked to food and feed safety - including animal health and welfare and plant protection - and provides scientific advice on nutrition in relation to EU legislation. The homepage is available in English, French, German and Italian. EU - European Union The Homepage of the European Union provides you with different kind of information related to food. Unfortunately the EU-webpages are not very clearly arranged. Here we offer some links to websites related to matters of agriculture and food and their export to the EU. For more information on the bilateral relations between the EU and other countries in general and related to trade matters please click here. About agriculture in the EU you can visit this site which provides you also with many economic and trade related agricultural statistics of the EU and other information on Food quality, Animal welfare, Food and feed safety, Plant health and Control mechanisms in the EU. The portal to official documents and EU law is here, summaries of the legislations can be found here. On the homepage of the EU different regulations on fresh fruit and vegetables according to EU quality standards can be found. A glossary with specific terms related to the EU customs can be found here. A "User's guide to the EU's scheme of Generalised Tariff Preferences (GSP)" can be found here. The EU's online customs database TARIC can be consulted to look up commodity codes and relevant import duties. The database for tariff quotas and ceilings can be found here. For general information on product labelling and packaging of food products, food packaging and containers and non-food products in the EU click here. FAO - Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations The Food and Agriculture Organisation provides information on HACCP and on the Codex Alimentarius. The information is available in English, French and Spanish. HACCP - Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is a widely accepted food safety management system to assure the safety of food. As part of the FAO programme to support countries in strengthening production systems and assure the safety of the food supply, the Food Quality and Standards Service (ESNS) has worked with government bodies and the food industry in the implementation of HACCP. For more information click here. GFRS - Gesellschaft für Ressourcenschutz mbH (Germany) The GFRS is a nationally certified board of control which examines agricultural firms as well as processing and import enterprises for adherence to the legal regulations for ecological agriculture and the guidelines under private law. The homepage is available in German, English and Spanish. IFOAM - International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM is the world-wide umbrella organisation of organic agriculture. Exporters can obtain a list of German and international and/or regional certification bodies from IFOAM. The homepage is available in English. IMO - Institute for Marketecology Control and certification body for ecological agriculture. The homepage is available in English and Spanish. LACON GmbH Private institute for quality assurance and certification of organically produced food. The homepage is available in English, German and French. Naturland-Verband für naturgemässen Landbau e.V. Naturland belongs to the important international certifying organizations for products of recognized organic agriculture. The homepage is available in German, English and Spanish. UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UNECE works on commercial quality standards for a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables, dry and dried fruits, potatoes, meat products, eggs and egg products and cut flowers. On the homepage of UNECE you can get information on their latest projects and existing standards. The homepage is available in English.