Facts about organic food
The information on this page lays out the facts about organic food - whether you're buying fresh produce or processed foods. For foods to be labelled as organic, at least 95% of the ingredients must come from organically produced plants and animals. Any food product sold as 'organic' falls under the EU labelling legislation (no: 2092/91). This means that the product must have been inspected and certified by a registered certification body.
You can find out more about how organic food is produced by reading about organic farming and how organic animals are reared.
Identifying Soil Association certified organic food
All organic food must display the code number and prefix of the body that certified it, as well as the EU’s organic symbol. In addition food certified by the Soil Association will also display our symbol. Organic products must meet all of the normal legal requirements for that product.
Non-organic ingredients
Because some ingredients are not available organically, up to 5% ingredients from a list of approved non-organic food ingredients are allowed. There are also a limited number of non-food ingredients such as yeast, salt, water, and a restricted number of additives and processing aids are allowed, some of which are legally required (such as iron and thiamine in flour). All artificial colourings and sweeteners are banned in organic food.
Both with non-organic food ingredients and additives there is an extremely strict list of permitted ingredients to ensure that nothing harmful or potentially harmful will be found in organic food. The labels on organic products must identify the organic and non-organic ingredients in the ingredient panel in the same colour, size and style of lettering as the organic ingredients.
Products with 70-95% organic ingredients
There is another category of processed foods that can be given the Soil Association symbol. Products in this category have to contain between 70 and 95% organic ingredients. These products cannot be called 'organic' on the label, but instead must state 'product made with xx% organic ingredients'. Any processed product containing less than 70% of organic ingredients cannot be certified, nor labelled as organic or containing organic ingredients.
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