First Australian organic inspector approved to Chinese regulations

An inspector from the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA), has become the first person outside of China approved to inspect to Chinese regulations.

Chinese organic certifier Beijing WuYue HuaXia Management and Technique Centre (CHC) has approved long-term NASAA employee Wenpeng You to undertake organic inspections within Australia and its territories for all organic categories, covering plant production, processing, animal breeding and aquaculture.

Wenpeng is one of only a handful of inspectors who are approved to inspect all four organic categories.

General Manager Ben Copeman said NASAA is now able to offer its clients access to the Chinese export market and has created a pathway for other Australian organic certifiers to follow.

“NASAA is now physically in the field, conducting inspections, helping its operators to achieve Chinese certification,” he said.

“Applications have started coming in and, to date, NASAA Certified Organic has received applications from a number of wineries and beef producers from across Australia.

“If the number of applications warrants it, we will send further Australian-based, NASAA-employed inspectors to Beijing for comprehensive training to the Chinese organic regulation. Wenpeng is the first of our inspectors to be approved and NASAA is now actively processing new applications and inspecting those applications that have already been approved,” he said.

Copeman said NASAA-certified operators can now have all their certifications, including NASAA, NOP, JAS, Chinese and Korean, completed in one annual inspection by one inspector at the one time, representing significant savings in time, logistics and expenses.

In late August, Wenpeng completed his first inspection of an Australian-based, NASAA-certified organic producer, Temple Bruer Winery, at Milang in South Australia.

“The official certifications should be completed by within 30 - 40 days of this, so therefore the first product should be eligible to be exported to China by mid-to-late October,” Copeman said.

In March 2014, NASAA signed a world-first initiative with Chinese organic certifier CHC, allowing NASAA-based, CHC trained and approved inspectors to certify Australian products to Chinese organic regulations for direct export to China.

Since March, NASAA and CHC have been working together and a number of important documents have been translated from Chinese into English, including the CHC initial-application forms, and the organic management/handling plans for producers, processors, and manufacturers.

The English versions of these documents have been translated and forwarded to more than 50 certified operators in Australia, certified by all of the major organic certification bodies.