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Fumigation is not permitted under organic standards; this applies to imported foods as well as those grown in the UK. There are a few specific countries whose conditions require fruit or vegetables to be treated before importation, such as with Argentinean citrus fruit. In this case the citrus fruit cannot be imported as organic because of the requirement that it must be treated. This would be the same for any other country or product where there was a legal requirement for fumigation. Some supermarkets require routine fumigation of, for example, bananas. Organic standards prohibit this so organic fruit must be removed during fumigation and not put into the area until the fumigant has dispersed and broken down.

No. Solvent extraction is not permitted under Soil Association standards. The normal processing methods are hot or cold pressing. Fractionation by heat or cold is allowed once the oil is separated.

The Soil Association makes extremely stringent checks to ensure that no product we certify contains any GM material. A mechanism has been set up which can validate the purity of the crop at each stage of the supply chain. Crops that come through this system are known as ‘identity preserved’. It is used widely for high-risk crops such as oil seed rape and soya. When products have not come through this system, they are tested for GM to the lowest reliable limit of detection which is 0.1%. Other certification bodies may only test to 0.9%.