AMA seal of approval
The AMA quality seal is the quality mark that is administered and controlled by the public Agrarmarkt Austria . It is a registered word - figurative protected.
The AMA seal of approval can be used to mark foods that exceed the legal requirements in terms of quality and whose origin is clearly traceable. The guidelines for awarding the AMA quality seal must be approved by the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism. Compliance is ensured by independent, state-accredited control bodies and laboratories, as well as by over-checking. The AMA seal of approval is the best-known quality mark for food in Austria and is known to most of the residents.
Structure and accountability
The trademark holder is Agrarmarkt Austria Marketing GmbH. Licensees: Around 47,000 agricultural producers take part in the AMA quality seal program, including around 37,000 dairy farmers, 5,000 cattle farmers, 1,800 pig farmers, 700 laying hen farmers, 400 broiler chicken and turkey farmers and 1,500 fruit, vegetable and potato producers. Around 800 licensees are allowed to label their products with the AMA seal of approval. A total of 3000 products across all product areas bear the AMA seal of approval
Basic requirements
Products that bear the AMA seal of approval are subject to holistic, integrated quality systems from the field or stable to the store. The three pillars of the AMA seal of approval are the independent control, the quality parameters that go beyond the legal requirements and the traceable origin of the raw materials.
The basis of the quality requirements in the AMA seal of approval are the guidelines of the Austrian Food Book, fourth edition. If several quality levels are provided for a food, the requirements of a higher quality level must be met. In addition, the programs of the AMA seal of approval provide for additional product-specific requirements.
With the red-white-red AMA quality seal, traceable origin means that the raw materials that determine the value must come 100% from Austria. In the case of foods that are composed of more than one ingredient, components may only be obtained from abroad if they are not produced in Austria or are not produced in sufficient quantity and quality. However, such ingredients must not make up more than a third of the product. In practice, the proportions are much lower, for example bananas in fruit yoghurt (between 10 and 25 percent) or pepper in sausage (less than one percent). This regulation does not apply to primary agricultural products such as milk, meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
Production regulations and guidelines
More than 20 different production regulations and guidelines regulate the production:
- nine guidelines for quality agricultural production
- nine guidelines for processed and processed products and the food trade
- five other labeling and registration systems such as bos (cattle), Ovum (eggs), pastus + (animal feed), sus (pigs) and organic.
These guidelines include, for example, the use of certified feed, compliance with the standards of "integrated production" for fruit and vegetables, the pH value measurement of meat to rule out meat defects, the prohibition of additives for the production of fruit yoghurt or meat products. In addition, compliance and documentation of particularly high hygiene and sensory standards are required and regularly checked by product analyzes. The guidelines of AMA-Marketing are continuously developed and evaluated.
criticism
The quality of the AMA seal of approval was checked in 2017 by the NGOs Global 2000 and Südwind, but found to be rather poor:
"(...) The use of genetically modified feed is permitted, however. The AMA seal of approval makes a few demands on gue (sic!) Agricultural practice, but criteria mainly relate to processing and hygiene regulations".
In 2018, Greenpeace had the pigs' feed tested by the Federal Environment Agency . It was found that around 90% of the soy contained in the feed consists of transgenic soybeans .
Above all, the claim with regard to the criteria "environment", "social" and "animal welfare" were classified as "low". The "soundness" criterion also only meets "medium expectations".
According to an audit by the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor and Four Paws in April 2020, “the most widely used AMA seal of approval is essentially based only on minimum legal standards that are considered too low”.
Product groups that can be awarded the AMA seal of approval
The following product groups can be awarded:
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Control system
Every stage of the food chain - from the farmer to the food retailer - is integrated into the control system of the AMA quality seal program. The controls are carried out by independent control bodies. The control bodies themselves are also subject to precise checks.
The controls are based on a three-level control pyramid:
- In the first stage, the farmer, food producer or trading company must regularly carry out and document the legally prescribed self-checks.
- In the second stage, the companies are checked externally by independent control bodies approved by AMA Marketing.
- In the third stage, AMA-Marketing has the work of the control bodies checked by means of over-checking.
Around 14,300 on-site inspections are carried out every year, 11,700 of them at farmers' premises. In addition, around 10,500 analyzes such as product analyzes, urine and fecal samples as well as leaf and fruit samples are carried out every year.
See also
Web links
- AMA seal of approval from Agrarmarkt Austria
- AMA - Quality Seal Systems ( Memento from November 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - Short text on the AMA quality seal guidelines at the Austrian Ministry of Life
- AMA seal of approval atbewitching.at
- AMA seal of approval: Better safe than sorry! Falstaff magazine, March 22, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ AMA seal of approval ( memento from August 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) at Agrarmarkt Austria
- ^ Walpurga Weiss: Regionality and regional food . In: Karl-Michael Brunner, Sonja Geyer, Marie Jelenko, Walpurga Weiss, Florentina Astleithner (eds.): Everyday nutrition in transition . Springer Vienna New York , Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-211-48604-7 , pp. 191 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-211-48606-1_11 .
- ↑ Greenpeace test: GM feed for AMA pork. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Seal of approval check. Retrieved November 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Critique of seals of approval for pork , from May 25, 2020 in Orf.at