Your Complete Guide to Food Sustainability Labels
By Beth Rush
If you’re a conscientious consumer, you’ve undoubtedly noticed various labels on your food related to their environmental impact. However, there are so many that it’s tricky to keep track. What are food sustainability labels, and which sustainable food labels should you recognize and prefer when shopping? Here’s your complete guide.
What Are Food Sustainability Labels?
Various organizations, including third-party independent watchdogs and government agencies, issue food sustainability labels. They help consumers make more informed choices about what to buy. Research indicates that many people want to know and wish retailers and food producers would be more responsible for creating awareness through public information campaigns.
Food sustainability labels cover various parts of the life cycle of a product and aspects of environmental consciousness, including their impact on the following:
> Nature preservation
> Climate change
> Animal welfare
> Fair wages
> Biodiversity
> Pollution
> Health
> Equality
> Economic growth
> Culture
For example, beef may be labeled “certified humane raised and handled,” which means the producers met established standards for animal welfare. Coffee with the Fairtrade label originated from plantations that don’t rely on inhumane employment practices to turn a profit.
Food manufacturers and producers can earn labels for various practices. For example, they might reduce the amount of packaging they use or shift toward organic farming. Many work in tandem with certifying organizations, doing their best to meet the criteria independently and converging to hammer out the details throughout the certification process.
Customers seek sustainability labels to help them reduce their reliance on ultra-processed, heavily packaged foods with a high carbon footprint. The information doesn’t stop at grocery stores. Sustainability labels also allow consumers to spend their money at restaurants that chop their ingredients fresh and source them from humane and ecologically sound farms.
12 Sustainable Food Labels to Recognize
Recognizing these U.S. food labels helps you make more informed dining choices:
1. American Grassfed
The American Grassfed Association issues the American Grassfed label. It applies to meat from ruminant animals, including cattle, bison, goat, lamb, sheep and pork.
Standards include a 100% grass diet from forage from the age of weaning, free from confinement, originating from family farms, and raised without antibiotics or hormones. Much of the meat produced by the cattle roaming the BLM lands in the west may bear this label.
2. Animal Welfare Approved
A Greener World issues the Animal Welfare Approved label — the only third-party label approved by the USDA that supports and promotes family farmers. It covers animals from birth to slaughter, ensuring their treatment meets four main conditions:
> Animals are pasture or range-raised
> Forbids dual production, such as raising cattle for both milk and meat
> Awards approval to family farms only
> Charges no fees to participate
3. B Corporation
The world might look quite different if the government required all corporations to meet B corporation standards. This designation indicates the company must provide a public benefit as well as turn a profit.
Examples include TOMS, Ben and Jerry’s, and Uncommon Goods. These entities must adhere to stricter environmental and social standards than average corps but get a lot in return, from unique networking opportunities to attracting top talent with people passionate about making a difference through their careers.
4. 100% Organic and USDA Organic Certified
Organic farming practices matter because they keep potentially dangerous fertilizers and pesticides out of soils and food supplies. The 100% organic label refers to many raw or minimally processed foods that contain 100% organic ingredients, like a sliced apple. The USDA organic label indicates the food contains a minimum of 95% organic ingredients.
5. Carbon Neutral Certification
Verus Carbon Neutral issues this certification. It indicates a product that offsets its carbon footprint by mitigating the greenhouse gases they’re unable to reduce through improved efficiency.
6. Certified Green Restaurant
The Green Restaurant Association issues this designation. It has three tiers of certification based on how a restaurant scores in eight key areas:
> Energy
> Water
> Waste
> Reusables and disposables
> Chemicals and pollution
> Food
> Building and furnishing
> Education and transparency
7. Certified Vegan
Livestock production remains a major contributor to global greenhouse gas production. Furthermore, some advocates object to using any products of animal origin. If you’re among them, look for the certified vegan label.
Vegan.org issues this certification for products that haven’t been tested on animals nor contain any animal products or byproducts. It also applies to textile goods, like clothing.
8. Dolphin Safe
The United States Department of Commerce issues the Dolphin Safe label to indicate products originating from fisheries that don’t encircle these creatures with nets. The Earth Island Institute also issues such a label.
9. FAIRTRADE
The FAIRTRADE mark is the symbol of the International Fairtrade System. This mark means you can trace something’s origin from farm to shelf. There are multiple FAIRTRADE marks for various products, but all must meet minimum environmental, economic and social standards to promote a cleaner, more egalitarian world.
10. Non-GMO Project Verified
The Non-GMO Project issues the Non-GMO Project Verified label, which certifies that food is free of genetically modified contaminants. As even organic foods can be cross-contaminated, seeking this label in tandem increases your peace of mind.
11. RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil
Anyone who has seen the heartbreaking video of an orangutan desperately fighting to protect their arboreal home from a bulldozer understands that palm oil can devastate these animals’ habitats. The RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil label originates from the RSPO — a global partnership dedicated to making palm oil production sustainable. The label ensures the product came from a plantation aligned with strict environmental and social standards.
12. Rainforest Alliance Certified
The Rainforest Alliance issues this label, which applies to various products, including food. It ensures the item meets strict qualifications across four standards — forests, climate, human rights, and livelihood. Products bearing this seal must prioritize sustainability throughout the supply chain, beginning with the farms they source from.
Make Sure You Look For These Sustainable Food Labels
Understanding what food sustainability labels are and what they mean can help you make better dining decisions. You’ll find them at the grocers, but also some restaurants and products may bear these labels regardless of where vendors sell them. Recognizing the sustainable food labels above lets you align your wallet with your values and eat your way to a brighter world.
About the author: Beth Rush is the green wellness editor at Body+Mind, where she covers topics like the power of climate consciousness at all stages of education. You can find Beth on Twitter @bodymindmag. Subscribe to Body+Mind for more posts by Beth!