Organic certification by JONA
JONA has been conducting third-party, organic certifications since 1993. Its certification currently covers mainly, for the domestic market, organic JAS certification and JONA Original certification and, as international organic certifications, overseas regulatory certifications including those for the U.S.A., EU, and Canada, and JONA IFOAM certification.
Benefits of certification of JONA
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Trustworthy - JONA is recognized as a trustworthy certification body that can certify to international standards as accredited to IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements). JONA has a plenty of know-how from its long certification experience that started even before JAS law on organic products started to be implemented.
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International
- JONA conducts regulatory certifications for the U.S.A., EU, and Canada as well as Japan (JAS). JAS-certified operators in Japan are able to export their products after completing procedures necessary. This way the certification cost should be lowered. JONA is also open to overseas operators seeking organic JAS certification.
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Experienced
- JONA staffs are completed with ISO auditing training. Please feel fee to ask a JONA staff anytime.
Organic JAS certification
It is mandatory for an operator, including producer and processor, to obtain organic JAS certification from a registered certification body by having their operation inspected in order for their product to claim “Yuuki” or “Organic” on crops or processed foods in Japan (organic JAS certification is voluntary if JAS marks are not intended to be attached on organic livestock, organic feed, and organic food processed mainly from non-crop ingredients).
It is not allowed to put organic JAS marks on the products and/or claim organic if the operator is not certified to JAS. An operator that illegally labels products is subject to penalties in line with JAS law.
National organic standards are set as “Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) of Organic plants”, “JAS of Organic Processed Foods”, “JAS of Organic Feeds”, and “JAS of Organic Livestock” (hereafter called JAS standards). JAS standards lay down production/processing methods of organic food.
A producer, a manufacturer (processor), a repacker and an importer have to have an inspection from a registered certification body to evaluate their competence, system, and equipments to produce/process organic food.
The operators subject to organic JAS certification are…
| Operation category | Products as example | |
|---|---|---|
| Production Process Manager （Crop producer） |
A single farmer, a farmer association, and so forth (including overseas operators) to produce organic crop and organic feed. | Organic rice, organic potato, organic cabbage, organic apple, organic shiitake mushroom, organic rice straw, etc. |
| Production Process Manager （Processor） |
A plant (including overseas operators) to process organic processed food and organic processed feed. | Organic soy sauce, organic dry noodle, organic konnyaku, organic green tea, organic azuki bean jelly, organic milk, etc. |
| Production Process Manager （Livestock producer） |
A producer (including overseas operators) to raise livestock at a certified house as organic feed is fed. | Organic egg, organic chicken, organic pork, organic beef |
| Repacker (Subdivider, repacker) |
A plant and a retail store (including overseas operators) to repack organic crop and organic processed food. | Organic food in general with organic JAS mark attached |
| Importer （Note: Only in Japan） |
An importer that imports organic products from the countries, such as EU, Australia, and the U.S., that are recognized as having organic regulations equivalent to JAS. | Organic pasta, organic olive oil, organic soy beans, etc. |
JONA private certification
JONA has JONA Original Certification program for operators producing, processing, and handling products not covered by organic JAS standards, such as aquaculture products, alcohol beverage, and honey.
JONA has certification programs to certify products claiming “made with organic (ingredients)” (higher than 70% of organic ingredients) as well as organic crop, organic processed food, organic livestock, organic feed, organic bee products, and organic aquaculture products.
Organic aquaculture products are certified to JONA private standards that take international standards into account. In case of alcohol beverages, JONA certifies operators to organic labeling guidelines of National Tax Agency.
International certification
As awareness of organic food increases, the people around the world seek organic food of high quality. If organic products are exported and labeled as organic, they must meet not only general food regulations but also, if there are, organic labeling regulations of the destination country.
Organic products with Organic JAS logo can be exported as organic to EU, Swiss, U.S.A. and Canada as Organic JAS regulation is recognized as equivalent to the organic legislation of those countries. Please note that some conditions and procedures for issuing certificates apply.
On the other hand, JONA has the certification programs to cover organic regulations of EU, Canada and the U.S.A. (Canada/US Equivalence) to certify operators directly to organic regulations of those countries, as exports to those countries and region are increasing.
These cover operators in and outside Japan.
JONA is accredited by IOAS for the scope of product certification. Registration number: 33. Please refer to https://ioas.org/accreditation/accredited-bodies/ for current information
Procedures of organic certification
JONA's certification is open to a member and a non-member. Certification costs differ slightly according to membership and, when it comes to a yearly total cost, a member pay a little less than a non-member.
The details of fee can be found in Fee Chart. Please contact JONA office in requesting a cost estimate.
Certification fee
JONA's certification is open to a member and a non-member. Certification costs differ slightly according to membership and, when it comes to a yearly total cost, a member pay a little less than a non-member.
The details of fee can be found in Fee Chart. Please contact JONA office in requesting a cost estimate.