What the heck does it all mean?

This may seem like a rather deep and expansive question to try and tackle in a food magazine, but Josh Goldsmith was determined. He’s looking into what all those labels on supermarket packaging really mean. Which are good? Which not so?

	SOIL ASSOCIATION means the content is organic and has the highest welfare standards
	FREEDOM FOOD / RSPCA APROVED means the content has high welfare standards both indoors and outdoors
	RED TRACTOR does not garentee welfare! Be wary of anything containing phrases like: farm assured, farm fresh, locally soureced or even produced to high welfare standards. The animals may still have been reared indoors.

What do all those words on the packaging actually mean?

Poultry & Eggs

Free Range/ Organic Meat: birds are free to roam outdoors.
RSPCA Freedom Food: birds live indoors but in decent living conditions. These are often from slower-growing breeds Look for ‘high-welfare’ chicken and turkey when buying sandwiches
Free Range/ Organic Eggs: birds are free to roam and naturally lay. Tree cover is even better for them
Barn Eggs: hens are indoors and free to move about without cages. Best buy if on a budget
Be Aware: it’s worth looking out for cage-free ingredients in everything from cakes to mayo.

Beef, Lamb & Veal

Organic: cattle and sheep roam free to graze
British Veal: calves aren’t exported to the continent and have decent straw bedding, more space and a better diet
Own Label Meat: most supermarkets now have good welfare standards for own label meats

Fish

Best Buy: wild fish from sustainable stocks (ideally line caught)
Farmed Fish: are kept in crowded cages and often fed up to 3 times their own weight in wild fish
Organic Farmed Fish: cages are less crowded and feed is more sustainably sourced.

Pork

Free Range/ Organic: born & raised outdoors. Free to roam.
Outdoor Reared: sows are free-range and piglets are reared outdoors
RSPCA Freedom Food: tails are not docked and bedding conditions are better
Outdoor Bred: piglets are born outside but reared inside
UK Bred: sows are not confined like on the continent and piglets are not castrated

Dairy

Soil Association Organic: cows are free to roam and calves cannot be exported
Dairy Cows: many female dairy cows live permanently indoor and can suffer due to being forced to produce high quantities of milk. The male calves born are often killed and exported to continental veal farms
Own Label Milk: these supermarkets take care to rear in the UK and don’t export their male calves: Asda, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco & Waitrose