The Soil Association has warned that it will introduce stricter ethical standards to certify organic food flown into the UK from January 2009. The association, which certifies 70% of the UK’s £1.9 billion organic food sector, wants the trade to bring real benefit to developing world farmers so all air-freighted food will have to meet tough “ethical trade” standards, which few overseas firms currently meet. The rules will affect the 1% of the organic food market in the UK which is fresh flown in from abroad, about 80% of which comes from low to lower-middle income countries. The association expects some producers would find it impossible to meet the standards and they want producers to eliminate the casual use of air freight. The Soil Association notes that is neither sustainable nor responsible to encourage poorer farmers to be reliant on air freight and recognises that building alternative markets that offer the same social and economic benefits as organic exports will take time.
Mallen Baker reviews the likely consequences of this decision here. He notes the blurring of the line between production method and route to market and so reflection supports the utility of a “carbon” label for your food, as distinct from an organic label, to differentiate the carbon per kg of food.
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