What You'll Learn
- What “commingling” means and why preventing it matters
- How handlers use dedicated space and clear visual cues to keep organic and nonorganic product separate
- When a documented cleanout or purge is required, how certifier permission fits in, and what methods handlers use
- How documentation and staff training turn these practices into a system that actually holds up day to day
Watch Time: 15:49
Running organic and nonorganic product through the same facility is called a split operation, and this video shows how handlers keep the two product types apart. It covers the three things a split operation has to do, prevent organic and conventional from mixing, keep organic product away from prohibited substances, and document both. The video brings together grain millers, coffee roasters, cheesemakers, meat processors, and others to show how they meet those requirements day to day. Handlers demonstrate the separation, timing, and cleaning practices they rely on, from color-coded tags and dedicated storage to running organic first and purging shared equipment with certifier permission. Recurring themes are that documentation and staff habits carry the whole system, and that some handlers simplify by making everything organic-compliant so the only difference between lines is the raw ingredient. Watch this video when you’re setting up a split operation, adding a conventional or organic line to an existing one, or reviewing how your facility prevents commingling.
About the Featured Operations
Clarkson Grain
- Organic Grain Aggregator and Distributor
- Cerro Gordo, IL
- Certified Organic since 2002
A food-grade specialty grain company that connects farmers who will raise something specific with the buyers who need it: makers of food, ingredients, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It handles soybeans prized for tofu, miso, and tempeh, corn for milling, and lecithin standardized to a client’s specifications, shortening the supply chain between grower and end user.
Cedar Grove Cheese
- Organic Cheese Maker
- Plain, WI
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 1995
A family-owned cheese manufacturer producing both conventional and organic cheeses, including cow, sheep, and goat varieties. Small enough to design productions directly to a customer’s specifications, it makes specialty cheeses and produces in bulk for other companies to label and market.
Raven’s Brew
- Coffee Roaster, Wholesale & Retail
- Tumwater, WA
- Certified Organic since 2002
A small family-owned coffee roaster producing organic and conventional blends, serving grocery stores, cafes, service organizations, and direct-to-consumer customers online. It grew customer by customer from a small operation into a roastery that emphasizes strong relationships with its importers and green-coffee suppliers.
Sailer’s Food Market & Meat Processing
- Meat Processor & Butcher
- Elmwood, WI
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2016
A meat operation offering both slaughter and processing services for organic and conventional product. It handles animals from intake through cutting, cooking, and packaging, and also hauls livestock for customers who lack their own transport, caring for animals in its possession as they would be on the farm.
Janie’s Mill
- Organic Stone-milled Flour
- Ashkum, IL
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2017
A stone mill producing flours from grain grown on partner farms and its own fields, with quality as its stated first priority. It sells wholesale to bakeries and retail to home bakers. The operation grew from a farming family’s interest in connecting good growers, careful milling, and bakers who value the resulting product.
Sauk Farm LLC
- Organic Fruit Grower, Packer, & Aggregator
- Concrete, WA
- Certified Organic since 2016
A family farm growing organic apples and plums and processing them into juice, dried fruit, and fruit powders. Its philosophy is to do the work in the field and let the fruit speak for itself, avoiding additives and preservatives. It also custom-processes and co-packs for other farms and food businesses, valuing the diversification that brings.
The Good Acre
- Nonprofit Food Hub & Produce Aggregator
- Falcon Heights, MN
- Certified Organic since 2016
A nonprofit food hub that aggregates produce from more than two hundred vendors and distributes to schools, campuses, hunger-relief programs, and CSA members. What distinguishes it is a grower-support wing that helps farmers, including those facing language or land-access barriers, move up into wholesale sales.