The BIO or Organic certification gives our customers the guarantee of agricultural origin (and therefore non-chemical) of raw materials, thereby excluding any GMO, pesticide or chemical herbicide, synthetic fertiliser or sewage sludge. It also guarantees agriculture based on land-rotation and a higher environmental and animal respect.
Concerning livestock (the cows), the certification ensures that no preventative antibiotics and no growth hormones were administered to livestock and that it has not been fed with animal-based fodder. Furthermore, the livestock needs to have sufficient light, air and space to move naturally. Our cows have enormous meadows at their disposal, and this from February to November. And a train on the horizon for entertainment... You can have a look at them on our website as well as Louis, one of our farmers.
Organic certification can be obtained from 95% of organic components. At Sikou, all our recipes are 100% certified Organic. From a more practical point of view the controlling consists of a minimum of two annual checks. One of which is by appointment, the other unexpected. We must then show the products used, their storage without any risk of contamination, our purchase invoices which must match our sales, the efficiency of our system of traceability, the checks we do on our organic suppliers etc. It is by no means pleasurable, but we really are in favour of it.
We really are in favour of it… But Organic certification is not sufficient in itself to ensure good finished products. Organic certification ensures compliancy to certain specifications which entail that the product is healthy, from agricultural origin and manufactured from raw materials. Furthermore everything must have been produced with respect for our environment and the animals. However, the Organic certification does not ensure the products are made according to the rules and without substitutes. Hence there are good organic finished products and bad organic finished products, as for any product.
This amalgam has often been used. From an organoleptic point of view it is indeed sometimes the case that the industrial non-organic product is perceived as 'tastier' compared to the organic product. As this is due to the use of additives, flavour enhancers, sugar, salt or added fat that is usually found in the food industry, the organic artisans can be shoved to the side. In fact, if organic products sometimes seem to be less 'tasty', they are definitely in line with the original taste of the product, they are healthier and better for the environment and animals.