“Eco” marking - what should manufacturer guarantee when he places the mark on his product label?

First of all, eco-product should be manufactured in ecologically clean area production location. Raw material for the product should be received in a natural way without adding any chemicals. And of course, the manufacture and the consumption should not harm the environment.

The need for ecological materials use is evident in this case, but why should the production location area be environmentally friendly?

The fact is just two things are essential for human existence - water and air. The quality of these two factors plays the important part in food products manufacture as well. Raw material and ready product eitherway contact with air during a process of preparation. If the air is polluted, it will affect the ecological properties of goods. The air should be taken from the outside, purified, heated or cooled depending on the weather and just then it gets into manufactory. So food industry companies are required to install proper equipment. And it is a right thing to do.

But manufactories are not air-proof tanks. Workers come in from outside. Even though they pass shower unit and sanitary walk-through, they still bring in some outside air. If this air contains hazardous substances, it gets into manufactory and then into the product. That is why it is crucial the manufacture is placed in a green area, and the air is pure.

The second factor is water.

Exactly. Water is crucial for food products. For example, manufacturing technology of cooked sausage involves ice addition to the meat. Meat turns into an emulsion and its temperature drops to prevent pathogenic organisms growth. If the water quality is inappropriate, all components like heavy metals, salts and other substances will get into the ready product.

The purification of water is not a solution. I recently had a talk with my German colleague who was complaining the situation he faced. He equipped his manufacture with very expensive units for water purification and had to remove it in a month. I asked why did he have to remove it, it was so expensive. And he answered that they had got the entirely different product with different taste, the taste had become artificial. The water had become distilled and dead. After this conversation, I made sure one more time that water should contain healthy minerals and be got from clean water sources or water wells.

You took this factor into account from the outset, didn’t you?

Our manufacture is situated on the farm yard Vsevolodivka away from the city. When I was planning to buy the land, I wasn’t still sure what kind of manufacture I would place there.  When we came to the place, took a deep breath and realised it is going to be the food manufacturing company here. We draw water from the well, so laboratory tests confirm purity and quality. Our company has all necessary purifying units for air and water preparation, but the location of production on an environmentally clean area is more important.

That is why I advise paying attention where is the manufacture situated.

Let us talk about marking. What does “Non-GMO” mean?

As you already know, GMO is a genetically modified organism which contains genes of some different biological species. The purpose for it is to give good characteristics of one plant to another, for example, to make the plant frost and pests resistant, improve fruit flavour, etc. DNA stores information about protein in the body. It means just products that contain proteins can potentially have GMO. When you see GMO marking printed on mineral water label, you want to know if the manufacturer suggests that the water can contain some proteins or just abuses the desire of people to consume ecologically pure and safe products and uses this marking as a promotion tool.

There is no obligatory marking in Ukraine now; although there was an attempt to oblige manufacturers to mark their products at the end of 2009. The manufacturers had to carry out laboratory tests of the products, order additional print labelling on packages. It costs a lot for sure. Some retailers even refused to accept goods without "No GMO" marking. But Ministry Cabinet cancelled the obligatory marking after two months had passed.

What can you say about “No cholesterol” marking?

Cholesterol is a substance found in neural and adipose tissue as well as in liver. Such food like sunflower oil can not contain cholesterol because sunflower is a plant. If you see “No cholesterol” marking on products of no animal origin, it means the manufacturer wants to increase the confidence in his product manipulating people’s focus on their health.

There is one detail. The fact is people need cholesterol in small amounts. Moreover, cholesterol fixation is caused by inactive way of life, bad habits, unbalanced diets and violations of the dietary regime and not fatty food. Our grandparents ate fatty meat, speck, homemade sausage but no one complained about cholesterol because all food products were natural, consumed moderately, excess calories were released with hard work on the land.

What advice can you give to consumers about the marking?

I make decisions from data analysis and not the advertisement. My advice is to pay attention to ingredients, expiry date, place of manufacture. Pay attention to the order elements are situated. The product contains more percent of the component which comes first in the list and then in decreasing order. As for expiration date - you can’t eat food after the time of consumption. Even the high-quality products go wrong. And the place of production - I am sure that eco-product can be manufactured just in an eco-area.

Oleksa Shkatov, comments.ua (http://comments.ua/life/477080-eko-markuvannya-chesne-informuvannya-chi.html)