Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Court of Justice Press Release (69/21), 29 April 2021
Judgment in Case C-815/19
Natumi GmbH v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen
The German company Natumi produces soya and rice drinks. It adds the red coral alga Lithothamnium calcareum to those drinks, in the form of a powder obtained from the cleaned, ground and dried sediment of that alga after it has died. That sea alga contains mainly calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Among other things, Natumi sells a drink called ‘Soja DrinkCalcium’, which is labelled as ‘organic’ and bears the following words: ‘calcium’, ‘contains calciumrich sea alga’ and ‘contains high-quality calcium from the sea alga Lithothamnium’.
The Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) brought proceedings for the imposition of a financial penalty on Natumi owing to the fact that the use of calcium carbonate, as a mineral, for the calcium enrichment of organic products is prohibited, even where enrichment is effected by adding algae. In addition, according to the Land, it is forbidden to include references to calcium on such products.
Natumi acknowledges that the use of calcium carbonate to enrich organic products with calcium is prohibited. It is precisely for that reason that many producers of soya-, rice- and cereal-based organic drinks add to them the alga Lithothamnium calcareum, which is naturally rich in calcium. According to Natumi, that alga is a natural alternative to calcium and its use for enriching organic food should be permitted.
The Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court, Germany) asks the Court of Justice to provide an interpretation of the relevant EU law. (see note 1 below)
By its judgment delivered today, the Court holds that EU law precludes the use of a powder obtained from the cleaned, dried and ground sediment of the alga Lithothamnium calcareum, as a non-organic ingredient of agricultural origin, in the processing of organic foodstuffs such as rice- and soya-based organic drinks for the purpose of their enrichment with calcium.
The use of a non-organic ingredient of agricultural origin in organic food is permitted only under certain conditions, in particular that it is impossible, without having recourse to that ingredient, to produce or preserve that food or to fulfil given dietary requirements provided for on the basis of EU legislation. It does not, however, appear that those are criteria are fulfilled in the case of the powder in question.
In addition, EU law lays down strict rules on the addition of minerals, such as calcium, in the production of organic food. As a rule, it excludes the use of calcium carbonate to enrich products with calcium, with the result that the addition of calcium in the processing of organic foodstuffs such as the rice- and soya-based drinks at issue, for the sole purpose of their enrichment with calcium, is prohibited. Consequently, authorising the use of the powder in question as a non-organic ingredient of agricultural origin in the processing of organic foodstuffs, in order to enrich them with calcium, would amount to permitting producers of those foodstuffs to circumvent that prohibition.
Note
1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control (OJ 2008 L 250, p. 1), as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1584 of 22 October 2018 (OJ 2018 L 264, p. 1)
