Strong standard across a wide range of animal and environment areas
People
N/A
Environment
8
Animals
8
Scheme
Verified
What we say
This is one of your best bets when it comes to eggs, meat and dairy. It is the strongest of the organic standards.
The Soil Association does a great job at ensuring welfare benefits exceed standard industry practice, but these standards are only applied to animals that are reared outdoors. The ‘Soil Association Organic Standard’ is one of only a few schemes that chooses to “set it’s standards even higher than the minimum EU organic requirements”
We think its pretty confusing that the words ‘soil’ and ‘organic’ imply just, well, the soil – but this standard is super wide-ranging and very well regulated.
We’d recommend checking their official site for a lot more detail (and maybe let them know they should consider a rebrand to make it all a bit clearer…).
What they say
The Soil Association standards were the legal basis for the control of organic farming, food processing and organic labelling within the EU until 31st December 2021 and have been retained in the UK (for now).
The Soil Association has higher organic standards than required by the GB Organic Regulation in key areas: delivering the highest levels of animal welfare, protecting human and animal health, safeguarding the environment and protecting the interests of organic consumers. These reflect the mission and vision as a charitable organisation.