Food you can trust

You can be safe in the knowledge that hydrogenated fats and controversial additives like aspartame, tartrazine and MSG are banned under organic standards.

Over 320 additives, including artificial preservatives, colourings and flavourings, are used in non-organic processed foods to prevent spoilage, or enhance a food’s texture, colour or flavour. Only 38 are allowed under Soil Association organic standards, generally these permitted additives are derived from natural sources such as citric acid from lemons.

Organic food must be certified by law so you can be assured the product and ingredients come from trusted sources. The standards for organic food are laid down by European law, so a licence is required to grow, process and market organic products, plus all organic farms and food companies are inspected at least once a year.

"Organic is a term defined by law, which means any product labelled as organic must meet a strict set of standards that define what farmer and food manufacturers can and cannot do in the production of food" Gerard Hayes, Technical Director Yeo Valley

How is organic farming different?