NON - GMO

ACO has its own Non - GMO standard for the domestic market. This logo can only be used in combination with the Australian Certified Organic “Bud” logo.

The purpose of this Standard and Certification Program is to provide companies with an independent certification service, which verifies that their procedures and products exclude genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and derivatives of GMOs, as far as is reasonably possible. In the US (for example), recent surveys are showing that Non-GMO certification is considered (in some markets) to be more important in consumers’ choice than organic certification and that consumers don’t understand that being certified organic is Non-GMO and so much more. This is the reason why ACO will only be allowing Non-GMO certification to be used in combination with Australia’s most recognised organic certification symbol, the Australian Certified Organic “Bud” logo.

The Scope of this standard includes all aspects of the food supply chain, including agricultural production, procurement of inputs, processing, handling, storage, and labelling of food products.

Non-GMO Certification is a risk based standard which places products into three categories.

  1. Low Risk
  2. Medium Risk
  3. High Risk

Medium and high risk products will be required to undergo testing by both the certified operator and by ACO for verification purposes.

Labelling

The non-GMO logo can only be used in conjunction with the Australian Certified Organic ‘bud’ logo on certified organic and certified non-GMO products.

Provision and use of the logo is subject to approval by the ACO office, as per the label and style guide.

Please see Section 10 (page 8) of the Non - GMO standard for more information on use of non-GMO logo for Marketing & Labelling.

Application Process

  1. Operators wishing to use the ACO Non-GMO logo must submit an application for ACO for this program.
  2. The application will be reviewed by the Certification Office, including product verification;
  3. On successful review of the application, an onsite inspection to verify compliance will occur;
  4. The audit report will be reviewed by the ACO office and a decision made on certification, if certification is granted, a certificate and logo is issued for use.

GMO Testing

To obtain and maint non-GMO certification, testing products in the medium and high risk categories is mandatory to ensure compliance. Please contact the ACO office for further details regarding testing.

For further information on Non-GMO certification please contact the ACO Office at (07) 3350 5706.