Who certifies the farms as being organic?
There are universally recognized standards of organic farming, although in Canada we rely on these standards to be implemented on a provincial basis. In time, there will be a single federal Canadian organic standard, based on criteria that are being established by the Canadian government. Certification means that an independent, qualified organization has visited each farm, and examined the records of that farm for the transitional period. The land is inspected, the water supply tested and the organization also inspects the processing plants so that they can be certified organic as well. Finally, the plant where the milk production takes place has to be certified for organic use, and it, too, has to be annually inspected. There is a strict financial penalty attached to claiming that a food is organic if it is not. Natrel Nature~Pure Filtered Organic Milk is certified by the OCQV, an organization that has been active since 1997.
