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	USDA Organic United States · Tier 1 Gold	Tún (Iceland) Iceland · Tier 1 Gold	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	Bio Suisse 'Knospe' (Bud) Switzerland · 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.	Vottunarstofan Tún is Iceland's only accredited organic certifier. Accredited by MAST (Matvælastofnun) under the EU 2018/848-equivalent Icelandic standard, so a Tún-certified product is also recognised as EU-organic.	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.	The Swiss organic farmers' federation mark. The Knospe (Bud) is the dominant organic mark in Swiss supermarkets and operates to standards stricter than the Swiss federal organic ordinance.
Scope	Food	Food	Several categories	Food
Established	2002	1994	—	1981
Inspection	Annual on-site by USDA-accredited certifier	Annual on-site, MAST-accredited	None	Annual on-site, bio.inspecta accredited
Residue testing	Required on ≥5% of operations annually	Required for at-risk operations	None	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.	≥95% organic ingredients per EU rules. No synthetic pesticides, no GMOs. Annual on-site inspection. Animal welfare standards (outdoor / pasture access, geothermally-warmed greenhouse compatibility for vegetables).	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.	Whole-farm conversion. Lower nitrogen inputs than the Swiss federal organic baseline. Strong animal welfare requirements. 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.	There aren't many Tún-certified operations (~120–160) — coverage in the Icelandic market is narrower than in the EU mainland.	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.	Switzerland is outside the EU — the Knospe is recognised by the EU under the Switzerland-EU equivalence agreement, but not by USDA without further certification.

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