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	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	AB (Agriculture Biologique) France · Tier 2 Trusted	Bioland Germany · Tier 2 Trusted	Rainforest Alliance Global · Tier 3 Specialty
What it means	The word 'natural' on packaging is a marketing term, not a certification. In most jurisdictions there's no legal definition, no standard, and no inspection. A product labelled 'natural' can contain synthetic ingredients, pesticides, GMOs, and artificial flavours.	France's national organic mark, owned by the Ministry of Agriculture. Sits alongside the EU Leaf on virtually all French organic packaging.	Germany's largest organic farmers' association. Bioland-certified farms operate to a stricter private standard than the EU baseline.	Sustainable-agriculture certification (post-2020 merged standard with UTZ). Covers environmental, social, and economic criteria. NOT an organic mark.
Scope	Several categories	Food	Food	Food
Established	—	1985	1971	1987
Inspection	None	Annual on-site by French-accredited certifiers	Annual on-site by Bioland-accredited inspectors	Annual third-party audit (RA-accredited)
Residue testing	None	Risk-based	Required	Risk-based
Guarantees	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.	EU baseline organic (EU 2018/848). Annual on-site inspection by accredited French certifiers (Ecocert, Bureau Veritas, Qualité-France).	Whole-farm conversion (no parallel conventional production). Lower permitted nitrogen inputs than EU baseline. Animal welfare standards stricter than EU baseline. Annual on-site inspection.	Reduced (not eliminated) synthetic pesticide use, with bans on the most hazardous classes. Forest conservation requirements (no deforestation after the cut-off date). Worker welfare and community development requirements. Annual third-party audit.
Does NOT	Doesn't mean organic. Doesn't mean pesticide-free. Doesn't mean GMO-free. Doesn't mean ethically produced. Some markets (e.g. the US FDA on food, EU on cosmetics) place very limited restrictions on the word, but enforcement is weak.	Same standard as the EU Leaf — AB is the brand consumers recognise, not a stricter rule.	Like Naturland, membership-based — only Bioland-association farms can use the mark.	Allows synthetic pesticides — does NOT meet any organic standard. Often confused with organic but it's a different programme.

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