It's not easy to receive the 'Organic' label

In Europe and in the USA, specific government bodies are regulating and controlling the labeling of food products in the ‘Organic’ trade. Before a brewer can label his beer ‘Organic’ two fundamental facts must be cleared. First of all, only organic ingredients can be used, and second it must be impossible to add non organic ingredients during the brewing process.
The brewer must buy certified hops, certified spices and certified malts. By the way, there is no such thing as ‘certified’ water. The brewer has an open accounting system, that is at all times available for the inspectors, who come unannounced to control the purchases, the stock, and relate it to the production. Farmers can only receive the organic label after several years of inspection. More, the organic label is not linked to the farmer but to the parcel of land where the grain or hops is raised.

Yearly testing will eventually prove that the ground is chemical free, and the farmer has made his first step to receive the organic label for that parcel of land. But that’s not all, the farmer has also open accounting, and is checked several times per year to make sure that no chemicals of any kind are used for fertilization or for protection against plant diseases.

At the brewery the brewing installation may need some changes. It must be impossible for the brewer, or anybody else, to add something at a certain point during the brewing process. Open vessels are forbidden. Once the ingredients are put into the mashtun, the whole process is closed until the wort goes to the lagering tanks. If this can not be guaranteed, inspectors may have to come to seal ports or windows of some vessels at the start of the brewing of every batch!
Newsletter February, 2001