ORGANIC

ORGANIC

Organic means leaving a living soil for future generations.

Not relying on resource-heavy, manufactured fertilizers and pesticides and major imports. Not seeing crops and animals becoming dependent on them, contaminated with them and the land sterile without them. Organic uses natural ingredients and controls to both preserve and enhance the soil’s own fertility and Nature’s inbuilt resistance.

You can see it on the land and, yes, you can taste it in the food.

Worth remembering that Organic has seen us safely through all of human history until as recently as the 1950s, when agriculture became increasingly chemical (in the very misnamed ‘Green Revolution’). Of course it wasn’t called Organic then, it was just Farming, it was just Food.

So how come people can now say “Oh, I don’t want any of that Organic stuff” as if it was dodgy and claim they “just like ordinary food”? How did earth-threatening, unsustainable farming become ‘conventional’ and chemical-impregnated garbage become ‘food’, while real food became, well…odd?

Change the language, change the world. Farms are now Factories or Facilities. In under 80 years, in less than one lifetime, your now ‘normal’ food, the stuff you buy from factory and lab, has heavily contributed to climate change, exploitation, loss of habitat, threat to water supply, increasing health problems, shortage of resources, addiction, dependence and poverty.

What was normal is now eccentric, what was perverse is now expected. And it has all been done in the name of Profit! Money controls government, government controls you and you control the money…eh? Didn’t you know? Too few understand that last bit but you are vital in completing the economic circle. And you have Power.

The Soil Association was the first to produce a set of Organic Standards which became the template for all others across the globe.

Biodynamic takes Organic further, aiming at a closed farm: animals, crops, humans – all part of a self-contained and self-sustaining cycle. Look for the word Demeter on the label and this logo: 

Our own, in-house, Organic products are certified by the Biodynamic Association (BDA) and are marked with: GB-ORG-06 and our licence number: 411.

All, and only, Certified Organic forbids the use of GM and only Certification guarantees Organic!

Now, as with everything we do we do not expect you to take our word for anything. We rely on back-up. The back-up we have for Organic is Certification.

The UK’s Soil Association created the Standards. The rest of the world followed. There are reciprocal agreements between the very many Certification bodies world-wide, with collaboration on Standards and with mutual checks. [How very modern British that having created the Organic standards here, leading the world, we could’t be arsed to grow Organically. Makes you sodding weep.]

The Green Shop has been Certified Organic since 2003. We are inspected once a year without fail (on-line during Covid) and random inspections can take place without notice at any time. Inspection covers and includes every single facet and operation from the soil itself to the product on the shelf and we are in the middle of that line. Even the packets or means of dispense have to be approved. The checks for certification in The Green Shop rely on traceability.

Within our business there is also direct accountability. Everything recorded ‘in’ must balance with the same product going ‘out’. Incoming gets a Green Shop Batch Number which follows it through to the customer. Origin, certification, weights and prices are recorded. Spillage is recorded. Cleaning is recorded. Sales are recorded. And if the amount ‘in’ doesn’t match the amount ‘out’, we’re in trouble. It is pretty thorough. And we’re just a shop, it must be mind-boggling for a product blender, a farmer or a grower.

Commitment. We all of us believe in that extra effort.

Here’s our first Certificate (ah, nostalgia), following a thorough assessment and we’ve held Organic Certification every year since:

Certification means that when we say it’s Organic, it is Organic. It licences us to legally re-bag and re-present Organic produce for sale. It is a guarantee that we are not taking short-cuts and not selling something as Organic when it isn’t. Don’t trust us – trust the label.

Humans are humans and the rogues are out there. There are, of course, cases where non-Organic has been sold as Organic and at a premium. Not often, but it happens. All we can say is: if that bothers you and puts you off Organic then think how much worse the rest of your purchases probably are, without all of those extra checks and balances because cheats don’t stop at Organic, they re-label and add stuff and interfere right across the board.

There are endlessly repeating reports of short-cuts and dangerous handling in and by all of the Big Brand names that people so adore. Apart from the ‘unsafe’ and ‘illegal’ there are extremely questionable practices right across the processed food industry, not forgetting the massive chemical dump on crops (potentially worse with GM which are man-made for use with pesticides). It doesn’t stop with just the Big Names, either.

Do you really, really want non-Organic?

Organic: why accept anything less? I mean, really: why on Earth would you?

OUR CERTIFIED ORGANIC STOCK INCLUDES:

Foods, of course, from Rice and Flour, through Fresh and Frozen, to Pasta Sauces, Beers, Wines and Spirits. Particularly extensive are our ranges of Teas, Coffees and CHOCOLATE. We have Eggs. We sell Milk, Cheeses, Butters, Yoghurts, Soya Yoghurts (still “live”) and Savouries, all in chill cabinets (I think we had Berwick’s first commercial green chiller, using Greenfreeze technology, way back in 19blah-something – I’ll need to look that up). Fresh Fruit and Veg have been available on a weekly basis since 1996 (it began with Mushrooms). Fresh and Frozen Meats. Everything in our self-serve refill hoppers: rices, cereals, pastas, grains, seeds and nuts.

There are also Essential Oils. Shirts, Socks, T-Shirts, Trousers, Tissues and Toiletries. Nappies and Baby Clothes. Pet Food (they deserve Organic, too). Seeds for the garden as well as Seeds to eat and sprout. No end, really.

Paradise Lost

Ok, ok, so it’s only a logo but with Brexit we lost this:

Why do we think that’s a shame? Well, artistically, it’s a really clever design, bit of a visual pun on the EU flag, resulting in an instantly recognisable symbol indicating Organic Certification within the EU.

But here’s why it matters. With all the different scripts across the world, all the different languages and logos, there are just too many certification bodies for consumers to know and be aware of even just a few of them. There are 8 in the UK alone. So how do you know it’s properly certified Organic? What the EU Leaf symbol does is give clear language- and interpretation-free notice that the product it is attached to is Certified Organic, covering the multitude of certification bodies within the European Union.

Love it. You don’t need to know dozens of logos or Acronyms or Abbreviations, you just need to see that one thing. How very, very sensible.

If for no other reason, it was beneficial for the UK’s 8 Certification bodies and the businesses they endorse to be a part of that.