An inspector spends a day on your site. The records have to cover the other 364. Under NPOP the question an inspection answers is not "does this look organic?" but "can every kilogram be traced, and does every kilogram add up?"
What the records have to prove
- 5 stagesProduction, storage, processing, purchase and sales — all verifiable from your records
- SignedThe visiting inspector signs the documents they verify
- CustodyNo certificate is issued without assurance of the chain of custody
- TransportNot certified as such — it stays the product owner's responsibility
The Record-Keeping Requirement
NPOP requires certification bodies to ensure that each certified operator keeps a record-keeping system, adapted to its type of production, that lets the certification body retrieve the information it needs and verify production, storage, processing, purchase and sales. The inspector signs the documents they verify.
| Record | What it proves |
|---|---|
| Land documents and maps | That the certified area exists and is what you say it is |
| Crop production plan and farm diaries | What was grown, where and when |
| Input purchase and use records | That only permitted inputs went onto the land |
| Harvest and yield records | How much organic product actually came off the land |
| Purchase records with upstream TCs | That bought-in material is organic, and how much |
| Storage and stock records | That organic, in-conversion and conventional stock stayed apart |
| Processing batch records | What went in, what came out, what was lost |
| Sales records and TCs issued | Where every certified kilogram went |
Mass Balance: the Check That Catches Fraud
Mass balance is simple arithmetic: organic material in must account for organic product out, allowing for documented losses. It is the quickest way for an inspector — or TraceNet's analytics — to tell whether an operator is selling more organic product than it could have produced or bought.
quantity"] B["Certified harvest"] --> D C["Purchases backed
by upstream TCs"] --> D D --> E["Sales on TCs"] D --> F["Documented losses:
moisture, grading,
processing"] D --> G["Closing organic stock"]
An unexplained surplus is the serious finding. If sales plus closing stock exceed certified harvest plus certified purchases, the obvious explanation is conventional product being sold as organic — the exact fraud NPOP's risk assessment is required to look for. Keep your loss records honest, because an under-recorded loss creates a surplus on paper.
Run the check on your own figures:
This interactive tool needs JavaScript. The rules it applies are set out in the text of this episode.
Chain of Custody
A certification body may not license its mark or issue any certificate for a product unless it is assured of the chain of custody, where earlier steps in the production chain were certified by other certification bodies under NPOP. Your upstream TCs are therefore part of your records.
Storage, Transport and Packed Goods
- Storage: organic, in-conversion and conventional products must be clearly identifiable at every stage of handling and storage. Storage facilities, including port facilities, are inspected as a risk assessment decides.
- Transport: not certified as such, but it remains the responsibility of the operator who owns the product during transport — including movements between warehouse and processing unit.
- Packed goods: certification bodies are not ordinarily obliged to inspect product after it is in the final consumer pack or after a TC is issued, but must act on information that the standards have been violated at those later stages.
GMO Testing and Inputs
Certification bodies must run inspection for possible use of genetically engineered products; where use is detected at any stage, certification is not granted. Where there is a contamination risk, samples of seeds and planting stock, production inputs, livestock feed, processing aids and ingredients are tested in APEDA-recognised laboratories.
Off-farm inputs are approved by your certification body, without any licence to the input maker to use the India Organic logo. Commercial inputs are evaluated against the standard's annexes, with annual visits to the manufacturer and a defined approval period.
Is your record system inspection-ready?
- Land documents and maps are filed and current
- Crop production plan and farm diaries are up to date
- Every input purchase and use is recorded
- Harvest quantities are recorded as they happen
- Every purchase is matched to an upstream transaction certificate
- Organic, in-conversion and conventional stock are kept visibly apart
- Processing batches record input, output and loss
- Every sale has a transaction certificate
Record keeping for group certification in practice: farm diaries under NPOP and input and crop rotation records. The next chapter moves beyond India's borders: registrations, destination markets and shipping. KrushiFlow validates these fields and submits farmer records to the portal in bulk.