This guide is for food and beverage companies, private-label brands, and importers planning to sell a product labeled as organic food in Indonesia, together with foreign manufacturers deciding whether an existing overseas organic certificate can carry over to the Indonesian market.
After reading, you will understand what legally counts as an organic claim under Indonesian regulation, why that claim cannot be validated inside a BPOM Registration file on its own, and why the organic certificate has to exist before the registration dossier is built, not alongside it.
In our experience, the most expensive mistake in organic food registration in Indonesia is sequencing, not documentation. Companies treat the organic certificate as one item on the BPOM Registration checklist, something to chase in parallel with everything else.
Under Peraturan Kepala BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2017 tentang Pengawasan Pangan Olahan Organik, an organic claim on processed food can only be made once a certificate from a KAN-accredited organic certification body already exists. BPOM does not certify organic status itself, and a pending certification application does not satisfy this requirement.
In our experience, the failure point is usually a print run rather than a missing form. Companies commission packaging artwork carrying the word organic, or a leaf-style icon that implies it, before the certificate is issued, because certification looks procedural rather than substantive.
By the time a reviewer checks the claim against the certificate reference in the file, the packaging is already printed in volume, and the fix is a reprint, not a resubmission.
What Counts as an Organic Food Claim Under Indonesian Regulation
An organic food claim is broader than the literal word organic. Perka BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2017 and Peraturan BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2022 tentang Pengawasan Klaim pada Label dan Iklan Pangan Olahan both treat any wording, imagery, or logo implying organic production as a claim requiring substantiation.
This includes the Indonesian term organik, English equivalents, and visual devices such as leaf motifs or green circular seals commonly associated with organic branding. A phrase like grown without synthetic pesticides can also fall inside this scope if it functionally communicates organic status to a shopper.
The Regulatory Basis for Organic Food in Indonesia
Five regulatory instruments govern organic food from farm to shelf in Indonesia, issued by three different authorities. Knowing which one applies at which stage matters more than treating organic compliance as a single requirement.
| Regulation | Issuing Body | What It Covers |
| Permentan No. 64/Permentan/OT.140/5/2013 | Ministry of Agriculture (Kementerian Pertanian) | Organic farming system requirements and the right to use the ORGANIK Indonesia logo |
| SNI 6729:2016 | National Standardization Agency (Badan Standardisasi Nasional, BSN) | Technical standard for organic agricultural production, handling, and processing |
| Peraturan Kepala BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2017 | BPOM | Control of organic processed food and validity of organic claims |
| Peraturan BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2022 | BPOM | Control of claims, including organic-type claims, on food labels and advertising |
| Peraturan BPOM No. 23 Tahun 2023 | BPOM | Registration of processed food, commonly referred to as BPOM Registration |
Does BPOM Registration Approve an Organic Claim?
No. BPOM Registration, also called BPOM Certification, governed by Peraturan BPOM No. 23 Tahun 2023 tentang Registrasi Pangan Olahan, approves a processed food product for distribution. It does not investigate or certify whether a farm or production system is organic.
That determination sits with a KAN-accredited organic certification body, applying SNI 6729:2016 and Permentan No. 64/2013. The certificate must exist first. During BPOM Registration, BPOM checks that the claim on the label matches that certificate, under Peraturan Kepala BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2017 and Peraturan BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2022.
Without the certificate, the organic claim cannot be included in the file, regardless of the product’s actual growing practices.
Why the Certificate Has to Exist Before the BPOM File Is Assembled
Organic certification is not a document you simply request. It requires an accredited certification body to inspect the farm, processor, or packer against SNI 6729:2016 and Permentan No. 64/2013, often across more than one production cycle for crops.
In our experience, that inspection schedule cannot be compressed to match a BPOM Registration deadline. Companies that start certification only once their registration file is otherwise complete typically add months, not weeks, to their launch timeline, because the inspection calendar runs independently of the registration process.
The Packaging Mistake We See Most Often
The costliest version of this mistake is not a delayed filing. It is a finished, printed batch of packaging that already carries an organic claim before the certificate exists. Reprinting that batch, and sometimes discarding the original run, costs far more than the weeks lost waiting for certification.
A simple safeguard is to hold final label sign-off until the organic certificate number can be referenced in the BPOM Registration file. Anything short of that is a bet on a certification outcome that has not been decided yet.
| Case Study: The reprinted pouch run A mid-sized coconut sugar producer preparing to export under an organic label commissioned a full production run of pouches carrying a leaf icon and the word organic, based on an assurance from their farm partner that certification was “in process.” The organic certificate was not issued for another four months. Because the pouches already carried the claim, that packaging could not be used until certification came through, and the company reprinted the entire run at a cost roughly equivalent to two months of the certification fee itself. |
Who Can Certify Organic Food in Indonesia?
Organic certification bodies must be accredited by the National Accreditation Committee, Komite Akreditasi Nasional (KAN), to issue a valid certificate under Permentan No. 64/2013. Several accredited bodies operate in Indonesia, each covering different product categories.
A product certified by an accredited body earns the right to carry the ORGANIK Indonesia logo. Imported organic products are assessed for equivalence by the certification body before that same right, or an import-specific approval route, becomes available.
| Case Study: The overseas certificate that did not transfer directly An importer of packaged organic snack bars from Australia assumed their Australian Certified Organic mark would be recognized directly in Indonesia. Because that overseas scheme is not treated as automatically equivalent under Indonesian requirements, the shipment needed a separate equivalence assessment by an Indonesian KAN-accredited certification body before the BPOM Registration file could reference an organic claim, adding several weeks to a launch timeline the importer had not budgeted for. |
Organic Food Registration Checklist
The sequence below reflects the order that avoids the packaging and timeline problems described above.
- Confirm the product and its sourcing genuinely meet SNI 6729:2016 before committing to an organic positioning.
- Engage a KAN-accredited certification body and complete the required inspection under Permentan No. 64/2013.
- Obtain the organic certificate and, where applicable, the right to use the ORGANIK Indonesia logo.
- Finalize label artwork referencing the organic claim only after the certificate is in hand.
- Assemble and submit the BPOM Registration file under Peraturan BPOM No. 23 Tahun 2023, referencing the certificate as required by Peraturan Kepala BPOM No. 1 Tahun 2017.
- Hold bulk packaging production until BPOM’s registration decision is issued.
Where This Fits Within Food and Beverage Services in Indonesia
Organic certification is a compliance layer added on top of standard food and beverage services in Indonesia, not a replacement for them. A certified organic product still needs full BPOM Registration, covering safety, labeling, and category-specific requirements, before it can be sold.
For a related look at how a food and beverage brand sequenced a separate certification process alongside its Indonesian market entry, see our halal certification case study.
What Foreign Brands and Importers Should Ask Before Launch
A foreign brand relying on a local partner to hold the organic certificate and the BPOM Registration is relying on that partner’s compliance position. Three questions are worth confirming early.
- Is our organic certificate issued by a body accredited by KAN, or does it need an equivalence review before BPOM will accept it?
- Has label artwork been finalized only after the certificate was issued, or does it currently reference an organic claim we cannot yet substantiate?
- Does our importer or applicant already hold BPOM Registration eligibility, or does that also need to be arranged? For brands without an Indonesian entity, a License Holder Service can act as the registered applicant.
| Case Study: The certificate that did not cover the finished product A foreign organic tea brand entering Indonesia through a local distributor discovered midway through registration that its distributor’s organic certificate covered only the raw tea leaf, not the finished, blended, and packaged product. The BPOM Registration file had to be revised to drop the organic claim on the finished product line while the distributor pursued a separate certification scope for the blending and packaging stage. |
Limitations of This Guidance
This article confirms the sequencing between organic certification and BPOM Registration, and the regulations that govern each stage. It does not state a fixed certification timeline or fee, since both vary by certification body, product category, and facility location.
It also does not cover Halal certification, which is a separate requirement administered under a different framework and should be planned alongside, not instead of, organic certification.
Talk to Our Team About Organic Food Registration and BPOM Certification
If you are planning to bring an organic food product to the Indonesian market, our team can review your certification position against Permentan No. 64/2013 and your BPOM Registration file against Peraturan BPOM No. 23 Tahun 2023 before either is submitted.
Contact our Food & Beverage Registration team to plan the sequencing of your certificate and your registration file together.
