Wholesaling and storage must be certified under the SOPA Merchants Scheme.

Intermediaries who trade or procure organic produce AND TAKE OWNERSHIP of the goods must be certified.

This applies even if there is no re-packaging.

The inspection is on-site and records of quantities and other trading records must be available. Organic certificates for all produce traded must be kept. From 1st March 2022, Defra have removed the allowance for wholesaling desk-top audits to be conducted off-site or remotely. This means that audits for Merchant Members must now be conducted in person on-site.

Buyers of produce traded via wholesalers will need to produce organic certificates from the wholesaler at their inspection.

For more details about the SOPA Merchants Scheme, click here.