Certification of NON-GMO products: the new UNI/PdR 142

Define the minimum rules and requirements that operators, certification bodies and laboratories must comply with in order to contribute to the creation of products referable to the "NON GMO - Non Genetically Modified Organisms" category. This is the objective of the newly born UNI/PdR 142 "Minimum requirements for the Certification of Products with NON-GMO characteristic/requirement" .

Published today and freely downloadable from the UNI website, the reference practice was developed by experts from Accredia, Coldiretti, Ente Nazionale Risi, IZS – Experimental zooprophylactic institute of Lazio and Tuscany “M. Aleandri”, CREA – Council for agricultural research and analysis of the agricultural economy, the UNI system and the conformity assessment bodies, including CSQA .

The inspiring principle of this work is to allow the certified operator to communicate his commitment to the protection of the territory through a production attentive to the maintenance of biodiversity and free from the use of genetically modified organisms .

To achieve this goal it is necessary that all the operators interested in the certification are committed to applying the rules of self-control in support of "NO GMO" productions. This type of activity has aroused the interest of all those agro-food operators – on the national territory but also at an international level – who wish to respond to the requests of an increasingly attentive and demanding consumer with respect to the quality and traceability of agri-food products.

"Having established common 'NON-GMO' production rules for those product sectors in which Community and national legislation does not intervene, is certainly the added value of the document..." declares Stefania Scevola Project Leader of the PdR "... Furthermore, the Practice is very flexible since, while placing great attention on the operator's self-control system to guarantee the 'NON-GMO' requirement, it allows each subject to implement a system in line with their own company reality, adapting themselves . "

The inspiring documents of this work are many, we recall for example the Regulation (EC) n. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 which establishes the principles and general requirements of food law, establishes the European Food Safety Authority and establishes procedures in the field of food safety and some technical standards including:

• UNI EN ISO 6498 Feed for animals - Guidelines for sample preparation;
• the UNI CEN/TS 15568 Food products - Methods of analysis for the research of genetically modified organisms and derived products - Sampling strategies;
• UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories;
• UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17065 General requirements relating to bodies that certify products, processes and services.

Compliance with UNI/PdR 142 can be issued by certification bodies accredited according to the UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17065 standard , by the national accreditation body, designated pursuant to Reg.765/2008 and signatory of international mutual recognition agreements.

The object of the certification consists of the following types of products:

1. products of plant origin;
2. feed;
3. animals and animal products;
4. mixed processed products.

The Reference Practice is completed with two appendices:

• A – contains an example of calculation of measurement uncertainty and interpretation of analytical results;
• B – explains the management of incoming raw materials for non-certified supplies: method for the operator.

(Source: https://www.uni.com/ )