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Air-Freighted Organics Face Possible Ban on Organic Labelling

Flown in Organic Products Face Possible Ban on being Labelled Organic due to Greenhouse Emissions

By Ina Woolcott

Proposals have been put forward by the UK’s main organic certification body, The Soil Association, to deny organically grown produce the right to be labelled organic, if it has been imported to the UK by air.

The Soil Association, has made known their feelings of concern regarding greenhouse gas emissions from flights carrying food produce around the globe. They have started a one year consultation at their yearly conference in Cardiff on a proposition that has been put forward to ban air-freighting for organic food producers, in the hope of cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere blamed for global warming. The matter is taken very seriously by the Soil Association.

The director of The Soil Association, Patrick Holden, told a BBC4 radio program that there is a growing demand to reduce the carbon footprint of food distribution. This is far greater in air-freighting to such a large degree that there is a very strong case for incurring a ban, and that the board will publish a consultation paper giving the background and outlining the options, which would include labelling and carbon offsetting.

He also said that one of the main issues during the consultation period would be the viability of fair-trade plans of action, which will benefit farmers in the developing world by providing direct access to rich-world markets for their crops.

Filed under: Organics on November 28th, 2007