Three-quarters of domestic production is exported

While total food consumption is declining, the consumption of bio food is growing. Bio production is based on transparent and clear regulations, which guarantee that it is compliant with specific criteria. Relevant legislation serves as a guarantee for not only consumers but for farmers as well, who can be sure that compliance with regulations gives their produce a special status. In order to prevent cheating with the bio labels, the whole production process, the subsequent processing of plant and animal products and trading activities need to be conducted within the framework of a single monitoring system. If no significant breach of the regulations is detected by the monitoring system, then a certificate is issued which authorises farmers to use the bio, eco or organic labels on their products. The system of monitoring and certifying is objective and impartial. It cannot provide advice but can help in the interpretation of regulations. Biokontroll Hungária Nonprofit Kft. is the only monitoring-certifying organisation in Hungary which is recognised world-wide. It is owned by the Hungarian Association of Bio Culture. The Biokontroll logo guarantees that the product is the fruit of organic production. In Hungary, bio products account for not more than 0.5 percent of domestic food consumption. The land area used for bio production is 120,000 hectares, which is two percent of the total cultivated land area. This is only half of the EU average. The growth of production has stopped in recent years, with the termination of subsidies provided for new enterprises engaging in bio production. Qualifying for the bio status is a slow and costly process. This situation is to change, owing to new projects to be implemented within the framework of the New Hungary program in 2009. Apart from food, numerous bio products like clothing exist, but these are subject to different regulations. EU legislation is only applicable to bio food. All leading retail chains sell bio products, but these are rarely displayed separately from non-bio products. Spar is an exemption, with its “bio-isles”. Its own bio brand was launched two years ago.