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	USDA Organic United States · Tier 1 Gold	Global Organic Textile Standard Global · Tier 2 Trusted	Nordic Swan Ecolabel Nordic Countries · Tier 3 Specialty	Bioland Germany · Tier 2 Trusted
What it means	The US Department of Agriculture's national organic standard. The green-and-white seal is the legal mark for any food sold as 'organic' in the United States.	The strictest, most widely-recognised standard for organic textiles. Covers the full supply chain from organic fibre to finished garment, with environmental AND social criteria.	The official environmental label of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland). Covers ~60 product categories from cleaning products to hotels — NOT specifically an organic standard.	Germany's largest organic farmers' association. Bioland-certified farms operate to a stricter private standard than the EU baseline.
Scope	Food	Textiles	Several categories	Food
Established	2002	2002	1989	1971
Inspection	Annual on-site by USDA-accredited certifier	Annual on-site, IOAS-accredited	On-site + product review by national Ecolabel office	Annual on-site by Bioland-accredited inspectors
Residue testing	Required on ≥5% of operations annually	Required for finished products	Risk-based per category	Required
Guarantees	At least 95% of ingredients are certified organic (the '100% Organic' variant requires every ingredient). No synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, no GMOs, no sewage sludge, no irradiation. Annual on-site inspection by a USDA-accredited certifier. Residue testing on at least 5% of certified operations each year.	≥70% certified-organic natural fibre (the 'organic' grade requires ≥95%). Restricted dyes, no chlorine bleach, no formaldehyde, no banned heavy metals. Wastewater treatment requirements. Social standards based on ILO core conventions (no child labour, no forced labour, fair wages, safe workplace). Annual on-site inspection by IOAS-accredited certifier.	Lifecycle-based environmental criteria for the product category. Restrictions on hazardous chemicals. Recyclability and packaging requirements. Audited every 3-5 years against an updated standard.	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.
Does NOT	Doesn't certify nutrition, taste, or animal welfare specifically (separate marks like AWA cover welfare). Doesn't guarantee local production — a 'USDA Organic' product can be grown anywhere with an accredited inspector.	Doesn't cover non-textile components (zips, buttons, prints) beyond the chemical-restriction list.	Doesn't certify food as organic — Nordic Swan on a food package means lower-environmental-impact, not 'no synthetic pesticides'.	Like Naturland, membership-based — only Bioland-association farms can use the mark.

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