How to Buy Organic Food and Drink

Here we look at; how to identify organic food and drink; how to find an organic food store; and what organic products to choose. This is one of over 40 ideas in our Sustainability Roadmap to Help Stop Climate Change, part of our campaign to #VoteWithOurMoney, and part of our series on Eating Sustainably.

If you already know you want to avoid food produced with chemicals that harm people and planet, here are the options to switch to organic food and drink:

Abel & Cole (use this link to get benefits*) (organic supermarket)
Flax Farm* (organic flax seed)
Forest Whole Foods* (organic nuts, seeds, and grains)
Model Farm Shop (organic and free range meat)
Naked Wines* (organic wines)
Ocado (organic supermarket with some Biodynamic products)
Pact Coffee (not certified organic as the growers are small, use referral code JAMES-PLORLG for £5 off a bag of coffee)
Shipton Mill* (organic flour and bread making ingredients)

If you want some more facts before making any decisions, let’s get into the details:

Conventionally produced foods use artificial fertilisers and dangerous chemicals that are bad for our health, destroy soil, and release carbon. Organic farming does the opposite by farming in a way that is much more like nature.

There are significant benefits to our health, happiness, and climate change when you buy organic, biodynamic, and regenerative food and drink.

For all of the benefits and reasons why organic, biodynamic, and regenerative approaches are good for people and planet, take a look at Growing Sustainably.

If you buy foods produced using organic, biodynamic, or regenerative approaches then you’re telling businesses that you prioritise health and protecting the planet for future generations.

If we #VoteWithOurMoney and buy organic food and drink, we can help climate change and reverse global heating.

Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change

This is a simple and quick change to make. Start by just swapping out a few of the products each time you buy, and increase from there.

How to Identify Organic Foods and Drink

The first thing to look for when buying organic food and drink, is to see if the name of the product includes the word ‘organic’. The next step is to take a look at the rest of the label.

On the label you’ll find the identifying code of the control body – for example, ‘GB-ORG-XX’. You may also see the name of the control body, and a logo.

Retailers can sell products labelled as ‘organic’ as long as at least 95% of the product’s farmed ingredients are organic. To avoid buying a product that you think is 100% organic, it’s important to read through the ingredients. In the list of ingredients you’ll see if some or all of the ingredients are organic.

Names, Logos, and Numbers to Look Out for When Buying Organic Foods and Drink

It’s worth noting that food from independent providers, such as farm shops, farmers markets, and smallholdings, may be produced to organic standards, but the company hasn’t paid to become certified. This is because it takes time and costs money to get the certification. One example is Pact Coffee who buy from small independent producers around the world. Because those producers are so small, they’re not certified. In this case they may not do absolutely everything required to get an organic certification, but they could still be sustainable and ethical producers.

If you’re buying from small independent providers, it’s worth asking if the products have been produced using organic methods, without artificial fertilisers, without pesticides, and for meats and milk without hormones, and without antibiotics.

The way to know that what you’re eating is 110% organic is to grow it yourself. If you can’t do that, the second best way is to buy certified products where the product label shows one of the following control bodies.

Soil Association

The Soil Association developed the world’s first organic standards in the 1960s. They’re the UKs leading organic certifier used to certify over 70% or all organic products in the UK.