We're often encouraged to choose foods that are ‘less harmful’ for the planet. But that approach only minimises the damage without changing the underlying system. In contrast, we chose to re-imagine an alternative food system in which the impacts are positive, not only for wildlife and the environment, but for farmed animals and people. The outcome is our Good Food Framework©, which we use to assess food labels, and how well they support and restore our health and the health of our planet.

What we rate

We rate food labels. We make each rating by assessing how well each label addresses the Characteristics of Good Food as laid out in our Good Food Framework©. These characteristics relate to the environment and wildlife, people, and farmed animals. In instances where no farmed animals have been involved in the production of labelled produce, our assessment reflects this. In addition to good food characteristics, we also assess the reliability of each label.

How we rate

Ratings are made by assessing publicly available information — the food label standard, and information that is produced and shared by the label. To assess the reliability of the information shared by labels, we check how clearly each label ensures their set standards and promises are followed.

Each label receives a score for each of the Characteristics of Good Food. Scores range from four to one, with four being highest and one being lowest. Each of the 40 characteristics is assessed separately, and these separate scores determine the overall score for each of our four focus areas: environment and wildlife, farmed animals, people, and reliability.

To receive a top score of four, 100% of the relevant characteristic must be clearly covered in the label standards (or relevant publicly available information). A top score of four can also be given for the focus area 'farmed animals' when a labelled product is highly unlikely to include or impact farmed animals (eg if a product does not include any animal ingredients).

A score of three is given when 99–50% of the Characteristics of Good Food are covered, a score of two when 49–1% of the Characteristics of Good Food are covered, and a score of one is given when 0% of the Characteristics of Good Food are covered.

Each assessment is made by experts who have the understanding that's required to unpick the complexities of all available information.

How ratings are shown in the Directory

The directory displays all labelled products, ordered by high-low rating, based on each labelled products' overall score. In instances where more than one labelled product has the same score, the database will order by score in the first instance, and then sort by product name (A-Z).

All labelled products are shown, unless a website user chooses to search for something specific (eg milk) or filter their view to show or hide a range of products (eg animal free only).

All products shown are sorted by overall score, unless a website user chooses to view a specific focus area eg 'environment and wildlife' in which case, the products will be ordered by the score which relates to the selected focus area.

All products shown are sorted by high-low rating in the first instance, unless the website user chooses to alter their view order to something different eg 'recently added' or 'A-Z'.