Nordic Koivu web-site and News Feed

Nordic Koivu Ltd who recently joined the Organic Food Finland Export Group has a very informative web-site which is definitely worth visiting. The company is the worlds leading producer of birch sap and the only one who is able to give a long shelf-life to 100% pure bottled birch sap. The product has not been heated and does not contain any additives or preservatives. Check also the news feed. The most recent articles are

- New premises for Nordic Koivu Ltd
- Expert recommendation to use Nordic Koivu birch sap for sports applications
- Birch sap's effect on birch pollen allergies
- Increasing demand of birch sap amongst industry

Organic EU logo

The situation with EU logo is difficult right now as we are waiting for the new logo to be launched but no-one has seen it yet. It will be chosen from logos submitted by European art-students. Of the over 3000 entries the 100 best have been chosen. This will be narrowed down to 10 and then there will be a Europe wide consumer vote. An interesting process and impossible to say what the outcome will be. One key problem is that only entries which are pure symbols - i.e. without any text - were accepted. It is easy to understand why as there is no common name for organic in the different European languages. But it does pose problems. The organic industry through the Ifoam EU group proposed a label that included the wording Organic - Bio, which would have been understandable for the vast majority of Europeans and also outside the EU. But this was against the rules of the competition and was therefore not considered.

The aspect of how the new label will function outside Europe has been largely overlooked. Maybe there will be some (little) EU funding for promoting the new label inside the EU, thus helping consumers make the link between the label and organic certification, but outside the EU there will be no promotion paid by the EU. This is a major problem for companies in the export
business of organic products. Asia, which is a fast growing market for organic products is an example. A lot of the organic products in Asian markets come from the USA and the USDA organic logo is the most recognized organic logo on that market. The consumer there looks for a Western certification logo for credibility. An EU logo would have that credibility if it existed and could be recognized as an official logo. Weather this can be communicated with the new EU logo remains to be seen. If not we will give markets to the US companies.

New year for Organic Food Finland

We are enjoying the last weeks of this summer and soon entering September. Again we have a few new companies joining Organic Food Finland. Let me present them shortly here - we will post more information later and of course update the www.organic-finland.com web-site.

Nordic Koivu in Eastern Finland produces a really unique product that is both refreshing and healthy: Birch Sap - which in many parts of the world is considered herbal medicine. The product is well known everywhere where the birch grows naturally, i.e. most of the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. Usually birch sap is consumed fresh in the spring when it can be harvested from the birches. Birch sap is highly perishable and even in a refrigerator you can keep it only for a few days. Usually bottlers use preservatives or heat treatment but Nordic Koivu has developed a method for bottling the birch sap without any preservatives (nothing added) or heat treatment. So the product retains its full quality.



ViiniVerla is an other "one of it's kind": the only organic winery in Finland. There are about 25 wineries in Finland, i.e. farms that produce alcoholic drinks of berries and apple. Grapes don't grow in Finland - apart from some enthusiasts back yards in Southern Finland. In the Finnish wine competitions ViiniVerla has faired very well and personally I am a fan of the sparkling wines and the liqueurs, especially cranberry and cloudberry. This is certainly something you should taste!

Keskinen Mills' in Central Finland is a small mill specialised in gluten-free buckwheat. The buckwheat is grown in the region around the mill. The main products are flour for the gluten-free bakeries and organic buckwheat pasta. So this is something for both the organic and gluten-free market - which in some countries are somewhat merged. Keskinen Mills' guarnatees that no grain gets mixed with the buckwheat and therefor celiac patients can safely consume their products.

Kiantama Ltd got the ISO 22000 certificate

Kiantama Ltd. got the ISO 22000 food safety management system certification as a first berry ingredient supplier in Finland

Kiantama Ltd. has been given a certification of ISO 22000 food safety management system as a first berry ingredient supplier in Finland. Long-term work with quality development culminated to approval of food safety management system by an international certification
body.

Kiantama Ltd. is located in Suomussalmi, northern Kainuu. The company is specialized in processing of wild berries. The wide berry product range for industrial use comprises among other things juice concentrates, IQF berries, purées, dried berries and different berry powders. Kiantama Ltd. produces also retail products under Biokia® trademark. This product group comprises sugar infused and dried berries as well as chocolate covered berries.

Certificate of quality is a proof of a company, which is committed to continuous improvement. Certificate of quality is also beneficial especially in export business, as more than 50 % of Kiantama’s turnover consists of export.

ISO 22000 is a modern operation controlling system concentrating on food safety. The purpose of it is to control food safety and methodically develop the whole company’s operation. When taking into use of the system, education was given both to thepersonnel and interest groups and subcontractors. Bureau Veritas Certification was responsible of auditing and granting of the certification.

Bureau Veritas Certification operates worldwide and it is also the most known certification body. In Finland, it has operated with certification since 1992. The company was accredited as a first certification body in the world to grant certifications according ISO 22000 food safety management system.

More information:
Managing Director Vernu Vasunta, Tel. +358 20 44 22 53 or email: vernu.vasunta@kiantama.fi

Certification Manager Matti Hukari, Tel. 040 753 5030 or email matti.hukari@fi.bureauveritas.com

Internet:
www.kiantama.fi
www.biokia.fi
www.bureauveritas.fi

19% growth in the Finnish organic market in 2008

The market for organic food in Finland experienced slow growth for several years but in 2007 it grew by 10% and the last figures from Nielsen show that in 2008 the market grew by a healthy 19%. The biggest growth was in the milk and meat sectors where growth was more than 40%. By market share the most popular products are still vegetable oils and eggs. The market is estimated to be 74 M€, so it lags far behind Denmark and Sweden. The target in the Organic Action Plan is to reach 6% by 2015. That would be 6 times more than 2008 but still less than where Denmark already is.

Research on New Nordic Diet looks to healthy eating, locally

This article is worth reading. I met Claus Meyer briefly at BioFach and just talking with him - mainly listening to him talk - was proof enough that this guy has inspring ideas about food in general and especially Nordic Food.

Satisfied with BioFach

BioFach 2009 is over and most of us are already back home. Now starts the hard work of transforming all the nice meetings and discussions into business. Well - not all, but at least some. In advance myself - and I am sure many others - were wondering how the economic downturn would effect the outcome. Will there be as many people visiting as last year? Probably there would not be any growth. During the show the commonest sentiment seemed to be - and I shared it - that there were slightly less visitors than last year but the quality of contact was good. Thursday and Friday were so busy that I was totally stuck on the stand. To me it seemed that there was less people from Asia and probably also from North America. The information given by BioFach pretty much confirms this. According to their press release the number of visitors was roughly 46.000 so pretty much the same as 2008. So I think we can be happy with that.



Finland was represented this year by 12 companies of which 7 in the Organic Food Finland Export Group. 11 companies were on the joint stand while one was separately in Hall 1. We were for the first time in Hall 3 after being for years in Hall 1. Probably it was more quite there but I suppose most people who wanted to find us, did. However we might consider going back to Hall 1.  Also for the first time we cooperated with Sweden which was positive. As long as the cooperation can be kept uncomplicated and straight-forward it is worth it. Spokesman, the Finnish representative of Nuerenberg Messe, did a great job in running the whole thing together. Maybe next year we will have also Norway with us and look for cooperation with Denmark - the country of the year in 2009. Denmark's stand area was huge this year but will certainly be smaller (still big) in 2010. 



Four of the OFF companies were also presenting products under the Napapiiri Organics brand. The preserves from Maustaja were already presented last year but the juices from Greenfinn's, the Porridge from Helsinki Mills and the "Rote Grütze" from Finnamyl were presented for the first time as ready products that can actually be ordered.



One of the first-timers on the Finnish stand was ViiniVerla, the one and only organic winery in Finland. The fantastic products - wines, sparklings, liquors are made of Finnish berries. "Verlados" is a Calvados type spirit made of apple. The products received extremily positive feedback. I am sure ViiniVerla's next problem will be meeting demand.



The Stand Party on Friday evening was a nice success. Sweden supplied the music - former Abba guitarist Janne Scaffer, and Finland offered Viiniverla's sparklings and there was snack to eat from both sides. Some even danced. A real success!

The BioFach 2009 was good - and we can better it in 2010.