Food labels

Producing food can sometimes have a harmful effect on the environment, adding to problems like water pollution or falling numbers of fish in the oceans. Labels like LEAF and MSC can help you choose foods produced with consideration for wildlife and the environment.

Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF)

The LEAF Marque shows that food has been produced using a combination of natural farming methods and modern technology. The aim is to produce food in a way that benefits wildlife and the countryside.

Some examples of LEAF farming methods include:

planting different crops (crop rotating) to give the soil nutrients and keep it healthy
managing hedgerows to provide food and habitats (living spaces) for a wide variety of wildlife
only using pesticides and fertilisers when absolutely necessary
recycling farm waste and saving energy
making farms use water more efficiently

LEAF Marque

Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) blue tick is displayed on wild caught fish, not farmed fish, and is the best-known sustainable seafood label.

Sustainable seafood is caught in a way that doesn’t cause unnecessary damage to sea plants and animals or mean they fall in number. One method of sustainable fishing is to only catch fish that are old enough to have had a chance to breed first. Another method is to catch fish in low enough numbers that enough are left to breed and replace the fish taken.

The MSC label scheme:

shows that a fishery (fishing area) is well-managed, follows government rules and hasn’t contributed to the problem of over-fishing
gives people an easy way to identify seafood from sustainable fishing areas
tries to encourage people to buy sustainable seafood

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

Dolphin Safe: Earth Island Institute

The Earth Island Institute’s (EII) Dolphin Safe label is used on tuna caught in a way that doesn’t harm dolphins.

Companies using the label are independently monitored to make sure they keep to the strict standards. While fishing for tuna, they must make sure dolphins aren't caught in nets and aren't deliberately or accidentally hurt or killed.

In addition, companies are not allowed to kill whales or take part in shark finning. Shark finning is where a shark’s fin is cut off and the shark is thrown back into the water to die.

There are other ‘dolphin-safe’ labelling schemes, but the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) recommends the EII standards as being the most trustworthy and the strictest.

Earth Island Institute (EII) Dolphin Safe website

Organic and fairer trade labels

Organic labels and labels that give workers a fairer deal (like Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance) are often used on food products as well. Fairtrade bananas are one common example.

For more information on the types of foods covered by these labels, follow the links below to 'Fairer trade labels' and 'Organic labels'.

Animal welfare labels

Labels like the RSPCA’s Freedom Food label and ‘free-range’ tell you about the conditions in which farm animals are kept. For more information on these, see the food labelling information on the Compassion in world farming website.