Martin Häusling talks us through the EP's proposal for new rules to improve the reliability of the EU's organic food labels.

How far can we trust organic labels?

Sales of organic foods are booming,  having quadrupled in the last years.

The EU regulation on organic produce  is 25 years old

The boom in sales makes  the new reform much more contentious.

German MEP Martin Häusling  is responsible for the reform in Parliament.

Martin Häusling,  hello and welcome to this interview.

As we've heard, the organic food market  is booming everywhere in Europe.

But are products labelled and sold as such  genuinely organic?

I can say that when it comes to products  sold on the European market

we can be almost 100% sure  that they are organic.

Fraud is on the increase, but this is  because the market is growing.

And we have to admit that  imports can still be problematic.

But I could guarantee personally  that when consumers are buying organic,

be it under the EU's eco-label  or an association label,

But it's primarily about control.  Who is carrying out the controls?

The organic sector  has its own system of controls.

This doesn't mean  the usual controls aren't there.

It's an additional system that sets  specific standards for the organic sector,

so producers are controlled  twice or thrice over.

We also have inspectors  with special expertise.

They can't inspect organic farms  if they're experts on butchers' shops.

who check on the things that set organic  producers apart from conventional ones.

We need to expand this  to include imports, though.

The EU loves agencies. Should we  establish an Organic Produce Agency

just to create  the umpteenth European agency?

Others preferred to call it a clearing  authority, saying that's what we need.

We noticed we have 28 different  interpretations of the same rule in the EU

So we urgently need  some coordination at EU level.

You're saying we'll keep organic controls.

In the past, the Commission has suggested  that we should simply have food controls

and make them both equal.  What's going to happen?

The position of the EU Parliament,  according to the proposals

and the compromises we found,  is very clear:

we want controls  to be part of the organic regulation.

As I said, they require specific expertise  so that's where they belong.

Pesticides,  do they have to be completely absent

or can a small amount  perhaps be tolerated?

The Commission said  there might be a possibility

of contamination from the farmer  of an adjacent field spraying pesticides...

where everyone acted conscientiously  and used hardly any pesticides,

the organic sector would have  no problem guaranteeing 0.0%.

But don't forget that 5% of farmland  is farmed organically

So I'm afraid you can't demand that  the sector with the strictest regulations

This would mean punishing them  for damage caused by their neighbours.

How can you guarantee  today and in future

that farmers can have access  to organic seeds,

Germany, Austria and France have  a highly developed organic seed market.

We have databases allowing farmers  to check for available organic seeds,

But this doesn't apply to all 28 states.

It would be wrong to suggest that  come 2021, for every kind of cabbage

there'll be an organic seed equivalent.  The market has to develop.

We started by asking  the Commission what they can do.

Is there any second pillar assistance,  i.e. rural development funding?

At the moment, 99% of research resources  are dedicated to conventional farming.

Developing the organic seed market  requires funding, public responsibility,

Will organic farming  become easier in future?

Will larger farms dedicate  one part of the land to organic farming

MEPs fought long and hard  over mixed farms

which unfortunately are the rule  in many countries.

The situation in Germany and Austria  is quite different.

We are fighting for farms  having to decide either way.