Labelling food as organic
Overview of the requirements for labelling pre-packaged organic food products.
You must register with one of the operating in Northern Ireland if you produce or sell organic food and you want to label it as organic.
You can decide which body to register with based on your location and needs.
Label food as organic
You can only label pre-packed foods 'organic' if at least 95% of the ingredients are organic.
Your food label must state:
- where the product's agricultural ingredients were produced:
- 'EU Agriculture', where the agricultural raw material has been farmed in the EU;
- 'non-EU Agriculture', where the agricultural raw material has been farmed in third countries;
- 'EU/non-EU Agriculture', where part of the agricultural raw materials has been farmed in the EU and a part of it has been farmed in a third country.
Please note, the above indications 'EU' or 'non-EU' may be replaced or supplemented by a country in the case where all agricultural raw materials of which the product is composed have been farmed in that country. For example, control body code 'GB-ORG-XX'.
If you're a retailer, you can label products 'organic' as long as:
- at least 95% 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
- you have not imported the organic product
List organic ingredients in non-organic products
You can list ingredients in non-organic food products as organic so long as they meet . For example, your label can say 'organic sugar' on a food package that contains non-organic ingredients. You must also include the control body's code number on the label.
Display the EU logo
You must use the on organic food produced in Northern Ireland.
You can also continue to use your organic control body logo.