For several years now, a social trend has been emerging around the organic market: many consumers are moving towards a healthier, more balanced diet, which has led to a boom in production in the food industry.
Why a company should move towards organic
Adopting an organic approach allows brands to meet growing consumer demand for healthy, sustainable products and to build an economic advantage. Let us look at the benefits of producing organically.
Organic: an economic and competitive advantage
Although there has been a general upward trend in organic consumption in recent years, it is important to note that growth slowed in 2022 and 2023 because of high product prices.
According to Agence Bio (France’s organic agriculture agency, in French), 94% of French people surveyed in 2023 believe that organic products are often more expensive (compared with 92% in 2022). And with good reason: food companies take advantage of this trend to sell at higher margins. In other words, organic is a fashionable market in the food industry, for consumers and retailers alike.
Strengthening brand image and corporate social responsibility
For some food companies, organic is a way of strengthening their image and making an impression on customers. Consumers tend to place more trust in organic brands, seeing them as more natural, authentic and transparent.
For the food industry, this is a windfall, even though companies are sometimes criticised for not appearing sincere in their CSR commitments or in the actions they take.
Building loyalty among health-conscious consumers
For the food sector, organic builds customer loyalty. Customers are looking for quality food that is healthy and produced transparently. So how can the food industry meet these expectations?
In several ways: by improving farming practices, broadening product ranges, putting control systems in place or developing innovative distribution models.
But with such strong demand for organic, will the food industry have to go further? Although there is currently no official “more natural” certification, some initiatives offer labels that go beyond the requirements of the AB label (Agriculture Biologique, the French organic farming label).
It remains to be seen whether, in the future, the food industry will produce even more naturally through organic.
How an organic food business operates
An organic food business must use certified organic raw materials combined with sustainable practices. Marketing must also comply with safety measures and organic certifications, ensuring transparency, credibility, sustainability and quality for consumers.
Sourcing certified organic raw materials
In 2022, more than 60,000 farms were engaged in organic farming, representing around 14.2% of French farms, according to the Chambres d’agriculture (French chambers of agriculture, in French). Organic supply chains in the food industry are highly regulated and involve complex logistics: selecting a certified supplier, producing in line with regulations and securing supply to prevent any contamination.
For the food industry, each of these steps is equally important, because each one directly affects the quality of the food and can therefore make a product ineligible for certification.
These complex logistics are more expensive to implement than for a conventional foodstuff. Agricultural inputs cost more, the fees for obtaining and maintaining organic status are higher and transport is also more expensive. All these factors make organic food more expensive for the food industry.
Distributing and marketing organic products
First of all, food must be stored and handled appropriately (stored separately from non-organic products in dedicated, controlled areas). A retailer must implement effective traceability systems to track each batch of organic food from arrival through to sale.
It is the retailer’s responsibility to train staff on the specific standards and handling procedures to follow. They must also carry out regular quality checks to verify compliance with standards and ensure quality.
The retailer must also be able to put clear policies in place for managing returns, in order to maintain product integrity and safety. To do this, they can use IT systems to automate traceability and stock management processes.
Factory safety and global health risks
Ensuring factory safety is crucial to minimising global health risks, and this involves strict protocols such as banning or restricting visitors. Find out which protocols apply and how factories can put them in place.
Safety standards specific to organic food
First of all, it is Agence Bio that oversees and coordinates certification activities in France. Organic certification is granted according to certain criteria: traceability, production standards (use of organic seeds and plants, exclusion of GMOs, etc.), a ban on synthetic feed, hygiene (cleaning, disinfection, microbiological checks, allergens, visitor control) and, finally, packaging and labelling (to prevent contamination).
Managing health risks in organic factories
To produce organically, food companies must therefore secure their factories, particularly against risks from visitors. This starts with identifying visitors and preventing the risks they may pose. In organic food production, visitors must not be allowed into high-risk areas.
Indeed, poorly prepared visitors can trigger serious crises. In France, several protocols can be applied in the event of contamination (the PMS sanitary control plan and HACCP), and an alert and monitoring network is available to coordinate action in the event of a health crisis.
To prevent such crises in organic food production, visitors must also not wear jewellery and must wash their hands.
Visitors should also be registered in advance. They should wear clothing and equipment suited to the food production site. Visitors should have restricted access to the food factory.
Finally, in organic food production, visitors are required not to touch organic food. Visitors must also declare any symptoms of illness in advance.
How to secure factory entrances to reduce public health risks
To ensure effective visitor control and optimal factory security, we offer Hamilton Visitor SSR software. This software can protect entire food factories with visitor approval workflows, a security interface and security vetting management.
With Hamilton Visitor SSR, you will know in real time who is present in your factories and can grant access accreditations as you see fit. You can also strengthen security at reception by accessing a list of banned or restricted people. It protects your factory and consumers, for quality food. Try it for yourself!