At top food fair, organics leader warns against fraud

22 February 2008

Nuremberg, Germany – Faked organic food is a real danger, a leader of the world organic farming movement warned Thursday at the start of a top organic produce fair in Germany.
Consumers wanted to know where the produce came from, said Gerald Herrmann, president of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). "It doesn’t always work perfectly," said Herrmann, a German who has specialized in certifying produce that was genuinely grown without synthetic pesticides. "There are doubts that we can get this system right."
He noted that worldwide organic-produce sales were growing at 15 to 20pc per year. "Credibility is the foundation of this market," he said in Nuremberg on the first day of the BioFach trade fair.
French movie actor Gerard Depardieu opened the fair in Germany, the second biggest market after the United States in a business worth 40 billion dollars annually round the world.
"I never eat fast food," said Depardieu, who owns a vineyard and restaurant. "I cook exclusively with organic produce."