Food Additives
Food additives, as the name suggests, are ingredients added to our food to serve a particular function, whether that be to change the flavour or appearance of our food, to extend the shelf life, or to ensure that the ingredients don’t separate. Some additives are naturally occurring, whilst others are synthetic, but all additives used in food sold in the UK must be approved by the Food Standards Authority. Some additives, even if approved for use in the UK, are still considered to be controversial, and organic standards ban the use of many additives used in standard food manufacturing.
In our sourcing and cafés
We prioritise organic certified products across all lines and in our cafés too. By doing this, we’ve greatly reduced the presence of controversial additives in the food and drink that we sell.
We look closely at the ingredients of all new products, and take steps to ensure that the most controversial additives do not make their way on to our shelves. We work with suppliers we trust, making products from high quality ingredients, in a way that is less dependent on additives and heavy processing.
Where we want to be
We’re confident that the high proportion of organic products we stock, as well as our general high sourcing standards, means that controversial additives are kept to a minimum across much of our supply chain. We’re working to increase the proportion of organic across our product range, which will ensure that this level only reduces over time.
How are we keeping an eye on this policy and putting it into practice?
We ask all new suppliers to tell us about their organic certification status, as well as providing a full list of their ingredients. Our buying team prioritise organic products. We also ask suppliers to agree to a Code of Conduct, which lists some of the most controversial additives we’re seeking to keep out of our product range and asks them not to supply us with products that contain them.