What do labels on your food mean?

Fair-trade fortnight runs annually, this year being from February 27th to March 12th! It is a promotional campaign which increases public awareness of fair-trade products and spreads the message of how making the small change to fair-trade supporting products can help protect the future of the planet!

Food packaging is often confusingly labelled and it can be difficult to stay up to date on what each of the symbols mean, however it can be extremely useful to know when trying to make more positive choices towards the climate on your next food shop.

The Soil Association

The Soil Association is an internationally recognised, organic symbol displaying the brand’s commitment to working with nature to benefit people, wildlife and the planet. When buying a product with this symbol, you can be assured that at least 95% of the ingredients originate from organically produced plants.

Organic is a farming system where farmers produce high-quality food in a way which benefits the entire food system. When choosing a product with the Soil Association label, you can be assured you’re supporting a beneficial farming system!

The Red Tractor

The Red Tractor symbolises the food has been sourced responsibly, produced safely and comes from animals and crops that have been well cared for, benefiting both you and British farmers. Red Tractor is a food chain assurance scheme that provides assurance through every stage of the production process, meaning it can be tracked every step of the way to ensure safety for you and the welfare of animals from livestock farmers.

The British Lion Mark

The British Lion Mark is specific to eggs and can be seen stamped on them throughout supermarkets. The symbol guarantees the hens and eggs are British, along with them being vaccinated against salmonella as well as being kept to higher welfare standards than is demanded by the law. This means you can be assured that the egg safe from salmonella and the hens are looked after.

The RSPCA Assured

The RSPCA assured label is a scheme decimated to improving the life of farm animals. When purchasing a product with this, label consumers can be assured the animals have been cared for to high welfare standards. This covers all aspects of an animal’s life, from the environment they live in, health care, transport, water and food, along with ensuring humane slaughter.

When buying something with these labels, you’re supporting the causes they stand for and influence other brands to follow and attain these labels too.

The labels not only benefit both animals, crops, the environment and farmers, but also you as the consumers, since the food is assured to be safe and trackable!