Labelling food products

If you produce or sell organic food in the UK and you want to label it as organic, you must register with one of the organic control bodies.

The following symbols might be commonly found on the labels of organic food in Northern Ireland:

• Soil Association
• Biodynamic / Demeter
• Organic Farmers and Growers
• Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association
• Organic Trust
• Organic Food Federation

You can decide which body to register with based on your location and needs. 

Organic food labels

You can only label prepacked foods 'organic' if at least 95 per cent of the ingredients are organic.

Your food label must state:

• where any of the product's farmed ingredients were produced
• the control body's code number - for UK-origin produce for code number format is GB-ORG-XX (produce from non-English countries usually have a 3-letter code, such as 'bio', 'öko' or 'eko' instead of 'org')

If you're a retailer, you can label products 'organic' as long as:

• at least 95 per cent of the product's farmed ingredients are organic
• you sell direct to customers in your shop - this applies to all retailers from farm shops to supermarkets

Using EU organic production logo

From 1 January 2021, certain requirements around trading and labelling organic food have changed. However, under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU Organic Regulations continue to apply in Northern Ireland.

Contact your control body to stay up to date.

You can also continue to use your UK organic control body logo. Read the guidance on importing organic food or feed to find out the restrictions on organic produce imports.