BIOFACH 2016: organic food and the tension between safety and quality

10 - 13 February 2016. Nuremberg, Germany. BIOFACH 2016.
The BIOFACH Congress – the platform for knowledge transfer, information exchange, discussion and opinion forming – is the biggest organic congress in the world and its some 100 presentations and panel discussions reach more than 7,000 participants. Join in the discussion and be inspired!

Key theme 2016: "Organic 3.0 – Acting for more organic!"
Organic 3.0 is the discussion on the organic sector of the future and stands for credible and sustainable concepts which are ground-breaking in the re-structuring of the global agriculture and food industry. The organic movement itself is called upon. But not only that: its partners in politics, the private sector and civil society must also create the conditions for the restructuring process and growth as well as actively support the organic sector. BIOFACH 2016 provides the platform for holding discussions and initiating specific measures.

Extracts of the program:

• The World of Organic Agriculture - Statistics and Emerging Trends At this session the latest data on organic agriculture worldwide were presented (area, operators, markets) and an overview of the current status of organic legislation will be given
• EU Policy Day, organised by IFOAM EU in cooperation with BIOFACH. In March 2014 the European Commission published its legislative proposal for a new organic regulation. The next and last step in this process is represented by the ‘trilogue’ negotiations between the three EU institutions to agree on a final legal text, presumably at the beginning of 2016. Taking into consideration the three institutions’ proposals, trilogue outcomes on certain regulation areas can be already foreseen and discussion can be kicked off.The policy day will bring together the EU policy makers and the organic sector to discuss the possible changes that the sector will have to be facing when the new organic regulation is adopted.
• Recent Studies in Organic Research. This session bridged the gap between science and the public by covering studies published in 2015 (and early 2016) about the human health and environmental benefits of organic agriculture.
• How much food safety can we afford? The tension between safety and quality. Manufacturers and consumers have been jolted by the discoveries of dioxin and mycotoxins in food products. Does society need to reach a new consensus on safety and quality?

Barbara Altmann, Head of Strategic Sourcing Food Ingredients / Rapunzel Naturkost AG Jutta Jaksche, Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. (vzbv)
Dr. Ulrich Mautner, SALUS Haus Dr. med. Otto Greither Nachf. GmbH and Co. KG
Andreas Swoboda, W-E-G Stiftung and Co. KG
Tom Nizet, Responsable certification / Certisys GmbH
Hubertus Doms, Hipp GmbH & Co. Produktions KG