As the popularity of organic personal care products has increased, the number of standards, labels and certification systems has proliferated, confusing consumers and undermining confidence in the market.
There has been talk of harmonization on both sides of the Atlantic and a draft document for the European harmonized standard, Cosmos, was released late last year.
Last week’s adoption of the ‘Made with Organic’ standard as an American National Standard is a ‘step in the right direction’ towards a harmonized standard for the US, according to NSF.
Strong market acceptance
As the ‘Made with Organic’ standard was designed through a balanced group of stakeholders, NSF believes it will be well accepted within the North American market.
“Further, because it is ANSI standard, any certifying organization can certify to it, unlike private standards that limit who can certify to their standards,” the NSF’s Greta Houlahan told CosmeticsDesign.
In addition, there can only be one American National Standard for any product type, which makes the NSF standard the only one for made with organic personal care products, reducing confusion in the marketplace.
“While there are other private standards in the US, there can be only one American National Standard,” explained Houlahan.
In order to gain ‘Made with Organic’ certification a product must contain over 70 percent of organic ingredients unlike the USDA’s requirement of over 95 percent.
For this reason the standard will only allow ‘made with organic’ claims rather than ‘organic’ claims to avoid consumer confusion with the USDA, explained Houlahan.
Link to NaTrue
NSF is also looking to link with the European standards, in the hope that in complying with the ‘Made with Organic’ standard they will also gain European market acceptance.
Quality Assurance International, an organic certifier and an NSF company, has entered into discussions with NaTrue, one of the European standards owners about the possibility of manufacturers complying with both standards.