Organic

Organic Foods, Environmental Timber, and Fair Trade Products

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There are a number of ways you get help protect the environment when out shopping, and make sure everyone gets a fair deal in the process. Three main areas are buying organic food, buying sustainable timber, and buying FairTrade products.

'Organic' is a term defined by law. Only producers who follow a strict set of guidelines can use it to describe their products. The Soil Association describes organic farming as "a way of producing safe food from healthy plants and animals, in a healthy, natural environment".

The Soil Association's organic mark is a guarantee to the shopper that food is produced to the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental protection. Producers, manufacturers and processors each pay an annual fee to be registered. They have to keep detailed records, so that their goods can be tracked from farm, or production plant, to table.

If they break the guidelines they can have their licence suspended, and their products can be withdrawn. All organic farmers, food manufacturers and processors are inspected each year, as well as being subject to random inspections.

Largely funded by the Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the UK Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS) is responsible for approving and supervising the other certification bodies. Any produce carrying the UKROFS label will have been produced to UKROFS standards.

All organic food sold in shops must be clearly marked with the appropriate certification. Labelling regulations are very strict, and are governed by EU standards. They also apply to imported EU and other pre-packaged organic foods. The easiest way to tell if a product you are thinking of buying is organic, is to look for the symbol of certification on the packaging. Food imported from outside Europe is also subject to the same strict checks. It must come from countries recognised as applying equivalent standards and inspection procedures as our own. If national standards do not exist, importers can apply on behalf of specific organic producers to be inspected by one of the EU recognised certification bodies. They are then subjected to the usual annual inspections.

Most organic food is sold pre-packaged. Always check for the symbol and/or number of the certification bodies. If produce is sold loose, you can ask the retailer to show you proof of its organic certification. If the seller can't produce it, you can find out who their supplier is and contact them to find out about their certification.

If in doubt, don't buy it!

Some shops pay a certification fee to register as organic in their own right,which is added assurance to customers. Any shop that repackages goods out of sight of customers, or cooks its own food and labels it 'organic', must have a licence to do so. If it doesn't have a licence, you can't be sure it's really organic.

Farm shops, farm gate sales and farmers' markets

These offer people the chance to buy fresh food directly from the producers. Some organically produced food maybe on sale here. Farmers markets can take place in town centres or other places, and involve a group of farmers getting together to sell their produce. Although not a farmers' market, one of the UK's biggest open air markets takes place in Chesterfield. Watch your local news-paper or contact your district council to find out if a farmers' market is taking place near you. Or look up www.farmersmarkets.net.

Some farm shops may buy-in produce to supplement what they grow themselves. Once again, watch out for those all-important organic symbols!

Organic Food Box Schemes

Box schemes are an idea which has really taken off. They generally involve a supplier delivering a box of fresh, seasonal organic food, either directly to your door or to a local drop-off point. Box schemes can be run by an individual grower, or by a wholesaler or organic company which buys-in the produce .Box schemes give customers the chance to get to know the producers, and know exactly where their vegetables, eggs or meat have come from.

If you are buying timber, or a timber product, think about whether you really need it. If the UK is to meet the promises it made at the Earth Summit in Rio to work towards a global sustainable society, we all need to reduce our consumption of a range of raw materials, including wood. If you definitely need to buy, think about whether products made from non-wood fibres could be used, such as panels made from the by-products of other sectors, like straw from agriculture. Instead of buying new timber, could reclaimed or recycled products/timbers be used? If there's no alter-native to new timbers, try to buy products that are produced in the UK which carry the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo. If you can't buy UK-produced goods, buy overseas products that have been certified by the FSC. If you can't get the timber you need from a FSC approved source, buy it locally - if possible, directly from the producer.

Some UK woodlands are well managed, and have conservation as a principle aim. Being local, the authenticity of any "green" claims they make will be easier to check out. If all else fails and you have to buy overseas products which don't have the FSC certificate, wood from a plantation is generally a better option than some which has come from natural old-growth forest. Even so, there is no guarantee that the wood has come from an environmentally sustainable source. In many cases, plantations have been established at the expense of natural forest or wetlands. And plantations tend not to protect soil from erosion and nutrient loss to the same extent as natural forests -they can even damage soil and water systems by using too much pesticide and fertiliser.

For information on retailers carrying FSC products, ring the: FSC hotline 01686 413916

Fair trade is an international effort to bridge the gap between producers in the developing countries and consumers in the richer countries, usually in the northern hemisphere. A major aim is to tackle the exploitation of poorer countries caused by unfair national and international trading practices. This involves creating a sustainable, fair livelihood for producers, by improving their access to the global market and paying a better price and providing continuity in a stable trading relationship.

Other aims involve promoting development opportunities for disadvantaged producers, especially women and indigenous people, protecting children from exploitation, and encouraging producers to use sustainable, environmentally-friendly processes.

The Fairtrade Foundation helps to generate sales for disadvantaged and marginalised producers, by getting their products into the supermarkets where most people do their shopping.

As long as manufacturers agree to buy from registered suppliers according to Fairtrade criteria, their products can carry the Fairtrade seal of approval.

On sale in most major supermarket chains, the Fairtrade product range includes coffee, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars, orange juice, tea, honey, sugar and bananas. In fact, some Fairtrade products now hold 15% of national market share.

Organic Foods, FairTrade, and Sustainable Timber or wood

This page is taken from Derbyshire County Council 'Smartliving' pages and comes with the following disclaimer

'The contents of Smartliving are drawn from a wide variety of sources. While we have made every effort to ensure accuracy, DCC will not be held responsible for any errors in this publication. Views expressed, or mention of any organisation in Smartliving should not necessarily be
regarded as an indication of Derbyshire County Council's official policy or support.'