What is organic food? 

What is organic food?

Organic is a system of farming and food production that works with nature. Organic farmers aim to produce high-quality food, using methods that benefit our whole food system, from people to planet, plant health to animal welfare.

Organic food is grown and made without synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Animals raised on organic farms have more space, greater access to the outdoors and higher welfare standards.

Organic farming must meet strict legal standards that protect:

• soil
• ecosystems and wildlife
• animals
• people

These standards are based on the four principles of organic: health, ecology, fairness and care.

What is organic certification?

When you buy organic food, you’ll see an organic certification symbol on the label. This means every step of the food’s journey, from farm to shop, has been inspected and certified as organic. Organic certification bodies, including Soil Association, work with farmers and food processors to make sure their food and drink meet the organic standards, laid down in law.

To be certified organic, farms and food businesses must:

• follow legally defined organic standards
• keep detailed records of how food is produced
• have their farm, land and processes inspected at least once a year
• show full traceability from farm to finished product

Only products that meet these standards can use an organic certification symbol on their label. When you see this symbol, you can trust that the food has been independently checked and produced in a way that supports soil health, animal welfare and the environment.

What are Soil Association organic standards?

Soil Association Certification is the country's leading organic certifier, responsible for certifying around 70% of all organic food in the UK.

When the UK left the European Union (EU), we retained organic food, feed and farming regulations within Great Britain. Any product we certify must meet these legal requirements, as well as our own higher standards.

These higher standards go beyond the legal minimum to ensure the strongest possible protection for animal welfare, the environment and wildlife. For example, our standards ban pig and poultry mutilations such as beak trimming, feather clipping and castration.

Look out for the Soil Association organic logo, when you see it you can be sure that what you're buying has been produced to the highest standards.

Use our certification checker to see if a business is certified to our organic standards.

How does organic farming work in practice?

Organic farming is built on simple principles: healthy soils, high animal welfare and food produced in a way that protects nature.

Below are some of the key differences between organic and non-organic farming, and how these practices work on real farms.

Fewer pesticides

Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill insects and other pests, including weeds (herbicides) and fungal diseases (fungicides). Pesticides negatively impact over 800 non-target plant, animal, fungi and microbes, and are a key driver of the biodiversity crisis (UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; 2025).

Under the Soil Association’s organic standards, all weedkillers are banned, and farmers are only able to use a very limited number of naturally-derived pesticides as a last resort (like citronella and clove oil), but only under very restricted circumstances.

Instead of relying on pesticides, organic farmers aim to create a natural balance between plants and animals to prevent pests. For example, healthy wildlife populations can help control pests. Farmers can encourage birds, beetles and other 'beneficial insects' (like ladybirds) on to their farms to eat pests like aphids, slugs and caterpillars.

Likewise, crop rotations and careful choice of crop breeds lower the risk of plant disease. Weeds can be managed by practices like mechanical weeding and planting natural weed suppressants, like buckwheat.

Higher animal welfare standards

Animal welfare is one of the most important aspects of organic farming, and Soil Association Certification has the highest welfare standards for farming in the UK.

Every aspect of welfare is covered under organic standards, from living conditions and feed, to their transportation and humane slaughter.

Organic standards insist that animals are truly free-range. They are given plenty of space and fresh air, and raised in conditions that suit their natural behaviour. This means smaller flocks and herds, and more access to the outdoors.

Painful mutilations like beak-trimming of poultry, to prevent the aggressive side effects of stress, are also not needed, or allowed.

No artificial fertilisers

Healthy soils are at the heart of organic farming (that's why we're called Soil Association).

Organic farmers do not use man-made or synthetic fertilisers. Instead, farmers use clover and other legumes to add nitrogen naturally, adding compost or animal manure, using green manures, and rotating crops to keep soils healthy and nutrient-rich.

No routine use of antibiotics

The routine use of antibiotics is banned by organic standards. In non-organic farming, antibiotics and wormers are used regularly as a preventative measure (before animals are sick). This increases the risk of antibiotic resistance and undermines our ability to help treat infection and disease.

When animals are farmed in hygienic environments, fed the right diet and raised in more spacious conditions, farmers do not need to depend on antibiotics.

Organic farmers only use antibiotics as a last resort. And the Soil Association’s higher standards also ban the use of certain antibiotics entirely, such as Colistin, which is critically important to human health.

Genetically-modified free diet

In the UK, genetically modified (GM) or genetically modified organism (GMO) foods are very limited. However, most non-organic livestock are fed GM foods. Organic systems are opposed to genetic modification, so organic standards ban the use of all GM ingredients. Animals on organic farms must be fed a natural, organic and non-GM diet.

Additionally, organic farmers and processors must show that they are protecting their products from contamination with prohibited products, from farm to fork.

No artificial colours and preservatives

The use of additives and processing aids is heavily restricted in organic products, and organic standards prohibit the use of toxic ingredients.  

Organic foods must not contain hydrogenated fats, and many artificial food colourings and preservatives are banned, such as sodium benzoate, aspartame (artificial sweetener) and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

What's the difference between organic and natural?

Organic is a protected term, subject to legal regulation. For a food or drink product to be labelled as organic, at least 95 percent of the ingredients must come from organically produced plants or animals. These ingredients must be approved by an independent certification body, like Soil Association Certification.

Natural food or drink, is largely unregulated and doesn't have one definition. There are no standards that producers need to meet in order to use natural on their product.