New EU organic logo

The European Commission announced on 8, February the winner of its contest to design a new logo to appear on all organic food and beverage products in the European Union.

The winning design comprised twelve stars in the shape of a leaf and is said to be “a very straightforward sign containing two clear messages: Nature and Europe”. It was drawn up by German student Dusan Milenkovic.

Agriculture and rural development commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "This exercise has raised the profile of organic food and we now have a logo which everyone will be able to identify with. It's a nice elegant design and I look forward to buying products carrying this logo from July this year."

The new logo has to be inserted into the organic farming regulation’s annex in the coming weeks. It will then be compulsory on new organic products as of 1 July 2010, but industry has until 1 January 2012 before labels on all existing products need to be changed. National, region, or private labels will be allowed to appear on packaging alongside the common EU logo.

Source of information: AIJN