What are Soil Association organic standards?

Next time you visit a supermarket, take a look at the food labels. You'll see plenty of claims about sustainability and welfare, but amongst them, the organic logo stands out as the only one underpinned by law. All organic food and drink sold in the EU must meet the EU Organic Regulation - shown by the green leaf logo on pack. You can find a summary of what the EU standards guarantee here.

Soil Association certified products must legally comply with the EU Organic Regulation. They must also meet additional higher standards – as shown by the Soil Association logo.

Why does the Soil Association have higher standards?

The Soil Association wants to ensure the highest possible standards of animal welfare, environmental and wildlife protection, so we have our own higher – or stricter – standards in key areas.

We have higher standards because we want to drive change. The Soil Association had standards on livestock, wine production and fish farming before they became enshrined in EU law. We have also developed trustworthy standards for areas which were not supported in EU law, such as health and beauty, and textiles.

Organic food is certified - an independent guarantee

All organic food sold in the EU has to be certified by registered certification bodies. Soil Association Certification Limited is the UK’s largest and oldest organic certification body, licensing over 70% of the organic food on sale here. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Soil Association charity.