Organic certification for food ingredients from India: NPOP, USDA NOP and EU organic

Three markets, three rulebooks

Organic is a certified production process, and each market decides whose certificate it trusts. For food ingredients from India, three schemes matter. Every organic product exported from India must comply with NPOP, whatever its destination, and the US and EU add their own requirements on top.

NPOP: India’s organic programme

NPOP is run by the Department of Commerce, with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) as its secretariat. Certification bodies are accredited under the programme and inspect farms, grower groups, processors and traders against the national standards.

Plant products can be certified organic after a conversion period: at least two years of organic management before sowing for annual crops, and at least three years before the first organic harvest for perennials such as coconut, spices and tea. Smallholders are usually certified as grower groups run through an internal control system.

All NPOP certification runs through TraceNet, APEDA’s web-based certification and traceability system. Scope certificates and transaction certificates, including provisional ones, are issued through TraceNet with a unique verifiable code.

Scope certificate and transaction certificate

Buyers often receive a scope certificate and stop there. Under NPOP the two documents do different jobs:

Check that the scope certificate covers the exact product and every activity the supplier performs. A trader that buys and repacks needs trading and handling in its scope; a processor that dries and mills needs processing. Then ask for the TC for your lot, and check the quantity, lot numbers and your company name against your invoice and packing list.

Selling in the United States

On 11 January 2021, USDA ended its recognition agreement with APEDA, with a transition that closed on 12 July 2022. Since then, organic products from India sold in the US must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent under the National Organic Program. Several certifiers operating in India hold both NPOP accreditation and USDA accreditation, so one inspection visit can often cover both.

Under the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule, every shipment of organic products into the US must be associated with an NOP Import Certificate from 19 March 2024. The exporter asks its certifier for it; the certifier generates it in USDA’s Organic Integrity Database; and the exporter gives it to the US importer for entry into the US customs system (ACE). USDA also reminds exporters that India’s own rules still apply, including TraceNet transaction certificates for exports.

Selling in the European Union

The EU recognises India as equivalent for two categories only, listed in Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325: unprocessed plant products (category A) and vegetative propagating material and seeds (category F), in each case grown in India and certified under NPOP by the listed Indian control bodies, with APEDA as competent authority.

This recognition currently runs until 31 December 2026. In December 2025 the Commission proposed extending the recognition of third countries to 31 December 2036 (COM(2025) 780); check its status before you plan contracts beyond 2026.

Processed products (category D), such as coconut oil, desiccated coconut, flours or spice blends, are not covered by India’s recognition. They need certification by a control body that the EU recognises for India and category D. Whatever the route, every organic consignment entering the EU needs an electronic certificate of inspection (e-COI) in TRACES, issued by the exporter’s control body and endorsed at import.

EU buyers test Indian organic ingredients closely for fumigant residues: the Commission’s 2021 regulation records around 90 notifications for organic sesame seed from India containing ethylene oxide. Build that test into every lot.

How to verify a supplier’s certificates

1. NPOP. Confirm the certification body is on APEDA’s list of NPOP-accredited certification bodies. Check the scope certificate for product, activities, validity and certificate number, and ask for the TraceNet transaction certificate for your lot, with its verifiable code.
2. USDA. Search the operation in the Organic Integrity Database. The listing shows its status, certifying agent and certified products. If your product is not listed, it is not certified. Confirm the NOP Import Certificate is issued before the goods arrive.
3. EU. Check that the control body is recognised by the EU for India and for your product category. Ask for the operator’s certificate and make sure the e-COI is prepared in TRACES for each consignment.
4. The chain. Every link needs its own certificate: grower group, processor, exporter. A gap at any step, such as an uncertified trader, breaks the organic claim.

Lab tests to ask for

Certification checks the process. Lab tests check the product. Ask for reports from a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, which in India means accredited by NABL, the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

Test each lot, or agree a sampling plan tied to lot size, and keep the reports with the transaction certificate. For a shipment of organic coconut products, for example, that means a lot-wise report for free fatty acids, moisture, microbiology and pesticide residues, sitting alongside the TC. The test advisor lists the tests by product and market.

Worked example: organic coconut flour for the US and the EU

Organic sourcing works best when certificates and tests are checked before the first order, not at the port. Our guides to finding manufacturers in India and factory audits cover the supplier side, and the India Atlas maps where organic coconut products are made.