How to… decipher food labels

We've all been there. You visit the company canteen or break for lunch at an event, and there are big decisions to be made, and not just on what looks tasty. Ok, so the tuna salad is dolphin-friendly, but it's wrapped in loads of non-recyclable packaging. The tea is Fairtrade, but the milk isn't organic. The apple looks lovely, but it was flown in from Australia.

You just wanted lunch, but now you find yourself at a confusing environmental crossroads, where dolphins, farmers and forests each seek your help. Are all these labels helping you make a positive, informed decision or leaving you feeling confused and guilty that you might have helped one, but harmed another?

For corporate purchasers and event planners in particular, deciding what food and beverages to purchase can be like walking through an ethical minefield, with one wrong step in danger of undermining company-wide environmental strategies or alienating eco-conscious delegates.

But with so many labels batting their eyelashes, hoping to win favour, it can get confusing.

So what do some of the most popular labels actually mean, how are they policed and what do businesses need to do to use the labels on their products? BusinessGreen.com investigates…

Fairtrade

Fairtrade is a tool for development that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal. The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label for products sourced from producers in developing countries. From coffee, to cotton, to cut flowers, this label is prolific in today's market.

Products displaying the mark meet the international Fairtrade standards, set by the international certification body, Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO).

Supplying producers are inspected and certified by the FLO and receive a minimum price covering the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium for social or economic development. It is commonly assumed that the primary focus for fair trade projects is on economic development, but while this is undoubtedly the case, there is also criteria for environmental sustainability that certified producers must meet.

According to the Fairtrade Foundation, there are more products certified with the label in the UK than in any other country. Around 20 per cent of roast and ground coffee, and 20 per cent of bananas sold in the UK are now Fairtrade.

Soil Association

While there have been many new additions to the food label stable lately, The Soil Association has been making its mark since 1946 and now claims to be the UK's most recognisable trademark for organic produce, with more than 80 per cent of organic products in Britain carrying the Soil Association symbol.

The symbol guarantees that the produce marked is certified to high organic standards. The mark means the food you have purchased has been produced and processed to strict and rigorous environmental and animal welfare standards. Beauty products, textiles and timber are also certified by the organisation.

The Soil Association's standards cover both the EC Regulation and the Compendium of UK organic standards. In some areas the Soil Association standards exceed these requirements, particularly in areas of animal welfare.

Forest Stewardship Council

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world's forests. The FSC trademark ensures that timber products or products derived from timber such as paper are from sustainably managed forests.

Forests and food may not seem obvious bedfellows, but the FSC label can now be found on an increasing variety of food packaging. For example, Marks & Spencer has switched all its cut sandwich cartons from plastic to FSC-certified cardboard and Sainsbury's sells chopped tomatoes in FSC-certified Tetra Pak cartons.

FSC labelled products take into consideration communities, wildlife and the environment and the organisation pledges that the label guarantees that the trees that are harvested are replaced or allowed to regenerate naturally; that parts of the forest are protected entirely to protect rare animals and plants.

Marine Stewardship Council

Fish is consistently praised for being a healthy meal choice, but knowing which fish to buy has become confusing as various stocks around the world plummet. The Marine Stewardship Council's logo is meant to assure consumers that their fish was caught from sustainable stocks.

The MSC was set up in 1997 to promote solutions to the problem of overfishing. The non-profit organisation runs an international environmental certification and eco-labelling programme for wild capture fisheries. There are 31 MSC certified fisheries, and 71 are under assessment.

Independent certifiers ensure that every approved fishery demonstrates that it meets MSC’s three core principles: keep sustainable fish stocks, minimise environmental impacts, and have effective management.

RSPCA Freedom Food

Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and Jimmy Doherty are two television personalities who have been imploring the British public to eat animals that have had the freedom to range and admirable care.

Freedom Food is the RSPCA's farm assurance and food labelling scheme dedicated to improving welfare standards for the one billion farm animals reared for food each year in the UK. The charity was set up by the RSPCA in 1994 to improve farm animal welfare.

A trained assessor visits every company that applies for membership and completes a thorough audit of their premises. Each applicant must fully comply with all RSPCA welfare standards before they are accepted onto the scheme.

Members include farmers, hauliers, processors and abattoirs. There are currently over 2,200 Freedom Food members.

Here to stay

Having a well-known label can give a business access to huge and growing markets. The organic food market is worth nearly £2bn and rising in the UK alone, according to the Soil Association. The market has consistently grown, with over two thirds of consumers having knowingly purchased organic products in the last decade.

The Marine Stewardship Council recently announced that the estimated retail value of seafood products bearing the MSC logo is now approaching $1bn annually – after the market doubled in size for the second year in succession.

There is a valid case for saying that the sheer number of different labels now available could lead to a degree of customer confusion, but with demand for environmentally certified products continuing to grow it looks like both business and domestic customers are going to have to get used to products covered in labels.