Influencing food policy
and Regulation
Transparency, traceability and cross-sector cooperation
The food system rapidly needs to adapt in order to mitigate the increasing physical and economic risks of climate change. Transparency, traceability, and cross-sector cooperation are key to driving systemic change.
We need regulatory changes that support businesses to make more sustainable sourcing decisions, empower individuals to make healthier and sustainable dietary choices and give farmers and producers a stake in food production labelling.
Our Objectives
Communicate the importance and urgency of food labelling regulatory reform to all stakeholders
Represent the voice of agroecology and sustainable food production
Influence regulatory framework so that it is pro-business and could pave the way for innovations in the food sector
Promote the vital importance of bottom up method-of-production data for informing meaningful food labelling, on all social and ecological aspects of food production
Quotes from our members and supporters
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Vicki Hird, Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming
Labelling can be a vital tool in helping consumers choose better quality and more sustainable produce. Transparency of production method is needed to help build trust between producer and consumer, which is why the Sustain Alliance supports CLEAR’s manifesto."
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Adele Jones, Sustainable Food Trust
"Now more than ever, citizens are wanting to understand the story behind their food. Clear, common and transparent metrics to unpin this are therefore now vitally important. This must include method of production labelling but should also go further - recommending a harmonised framework for communicating food sustainability to consumers"
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Anthony Davidson, BigBarn
"Our mission at BigBarn is to reconnect people with real food not unsustainable, foreign, or factory farmed products. CLEAR is crucial for this process."
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Gabriel Kaye, Biodynamic Association
"The Biodynamic Association and Biodynamic Land Trust fully support the development of a clearer mandatory labelling of food for the British consumer. The current arrangements are far from clear to the average shopper and even the informed find it hard to know what the labelling really indicates. Consumers need the necessary information to make clear choices. We fully support the points of the manifesto, especially needed now in changing trade and agricultural production contexts."
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Jimmy Woodrow, Pasture-Fed Livestock Association
"The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association promotes a food & farming system that is better for nature, our farmed animals and ourselves. The lack of CLEAR method of production labelling regulations in the UK means we work with one hand tied behind our back. The current system exploits those farmers who already do the right thing in favour of those who do not and ultimately short changes us all. We all have the right to make informed choices about the food we buy and the farmers and food producers we support."
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Pat Thomas, Beyond GM
“In an age where ‘techno-food’ is on the rise, where the lines between natural and synthetic as well as sustainable and unsustainable are increasingly, and sometimes deliberately blurred, Beyond GM believes that CLEAR labelling, showing how our food is produced is essential to support a transition to sustainable farming practices and to boost consumer trust and safety”
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Catherine Chong, Farms to Feed Us
"The information on the method of production of the food we consume can reveal important information about the social and ecological impacts of the food we consume. It’s usually the most vulnerable in the society that are most exposed to the impacts of low standards of food and the socioecological impacts of poor farming practices. A system of mandatory food labelling which includes information on method of production will benefit everyone - consumers, farmers, food businesses, and the government.The information on the method of production of the food we consume can reveal important information about the social and ecological impacts of the food we consume. It’s usually the most vulnerable in the society that are most exposed to the impacts of low standards of food and the socioecological impacts of poor farming practices. A system of mandatory food labelling which includes information on method of production will benefit everyone - consumers, farmers, food businesses, and the government."
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Laura Chan, Soil Association
"The Soil Association advocates for a transition to a more sustainable, agroecological food system that supports climate, nature and health. To be able to make better choices for the planet we need to know how our food is produced. Through clear method of production labelling, producers who are taking steps towards better meat production have the opportunity to communicate this directly to the customer. This makes informed purchasing decisions possible and can support a transition to a more sustainable food system."
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Martin Lines, Nature-Friendly Farming Network
"The Nature Friendly Farming Network strongly supports CLEAR's objectives for transparent and verifiable mandatory method of production labelling, for food products sold in the UK. Consumers have a right to know the environmental and animal welfare standards of the food they eat, whether bought raw, processed or from outside of the UK. So many British farmers produce incredible food, benefiting our environment and our own health, and we know that the British public want to support those farmers who work to the highest standards, encouraging even more to do so. They can only do this if they have a clear and accessible label they can trust."
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Jonathan Brunyee, FarmEd
"As we move towards a regenerative and agroecological farming future we need to connect to consumers and build new routes to market. Without CLEAR labelling, we can not make sustainable food buying decisions. Without CLEAR labelling, sector transition stalls at the farm gate. Without CLEAR labelling, we lack market transparency. "
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Nick Palmer, Compassion in World Farming
"Compassion in World Farming believes that consumer power is vital to drive better welfare, so the CLEAR initiative promoting mandatory Means of Production labelling is crucial to giving consumers the information for genuine choice."
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Courtney Scott, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission
"Clear information on how our food is produced is part of levelling the playing field for a fair and sustainable food system. It took years for nutrition labelling to become as informative as it is now, and we must do the same for method of production. We know that citizens want straightforward and honest labelling, but others are pushing back, arguably defending their own interests. This is why there is an important role for the CLEAR consortium."
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Tracy Worcester, Farms Not Factories
"Like every other sector, our food system is controlled by a few giant corporations and politicians are simply their stooges. The only way to bring back control of our food economy is to use the power of our purse to reject unhealthy food and for this we urgently need mandatory labels that CLEARLY describe how the food was produced. Thereby we can close factory farms and revitalise a network of producers and processors that serve citizen wellbeing as opposed to corporate greed."
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Dan Crossley, Food Ethics Council
"How our food is produced is at least as important as what and how much we eat. It’s vital that the public, as food citizens, are given greater transparency and better food options. If we want to accelerate the shift to food and farming that is fair for people, animals and the planet, method of production labelling as advocated by CLEAR is an important part of the jigsaw."
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Liz O'Neil, GM Freeze
"Consumers want to know what’s in their food and how it was produced. CLEAR labelling will help us all make informed choices and support a responsible, fair and sustainable food system."
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Alex Cherry, Groundswell Agriculture
"Groundswell is proud to support the CLEAR coalition"
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Steven Jacobs, Organic Farmers & Growers
"Labelling is legally mandated for all organic food and drink. OF&G believe all foods, not just organic, must be brought under a method of production labelling scheme that is placed within a legislative framework. Verifiable labelling that clearly identifies method of production offers transparency to people when choosing what to eat and provides greater integrity along food supply chains."
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Lucy MacLennan, Organic Research Centre
"The Organic Research Centre fully supports and endorses CLEAR – consumers want and need to understand where their food comes from and how it is produced, and the introduction of a transparent, verifiable labelling system is vitally important in delivering this”
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Christopher Price, Rare Breeds Survival Trust
"The lack of honest labelling is one of the biggest challenges faced by native breed livestock farmers when promoting their produce. RBST is backing the CLEAR manifesto to secure change. Customers have the right to know what they are buying."
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Ruth West, Real Farming Trust
"Meat from animals of the same breed can differ markedly in quality - flavour, texture, and nutritional value - depending on how they are reared and their age and condition at slaughter: whether raised on a natural diet and allowed to grow at their own pace, or fed on concentrates and rushed from birth to the abattoir. Some forms of husbandry are designed to be kind while others are positively cruel. Some are immensely profligate and ecologically damaging while others complement arable farming and horticulture and may even enhance the local wildlife and biodiversity. Customers have a right to be told the basic details and method of production - at the very least with clear and accurate labelling. Anything less is simply dishonest."
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Dr Anthony Wrigley, Real Food Campaign
"The health of our nation depends on us being able to make better choices around the food we eat. We at the Real Food Campaign believe that the quality and nutrient density of our food is dependent on how it is produced."
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Lucy Bjork, RSPB
"The RSPB champions sustainable, nature-friendly farming and sees clear labelling as an important mechanism in ensuring that producers are supported in their efforts to integrate sustainable production and nature-friendly practices on their farms. Clear labelling provides clarity to citizens on the way in which their food is produced allowing them to make informed choices. It also provides greater transparency along the supply chains, helping retailers demonstrate how they are meeting their commitments to address the ecological and climate crises. "
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David Bowles, RSPCA
"The RSPCA is part of CLEAR as we believe mandatory labelling of how our food is produced is vital particularly as we agree free trade agreements - we can achieve all this by working together"
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Juliane Caillouette-Noble, Sustainable Restaurant Association
"Chefs and their customers crave clarity, clarity about where their food is from and how it’s been produced."
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Matthew Orman, Sustainable Soils Alliance
"Now more than ever there is a need and appetite for consumers to know more about the provenance and the quality of the food they are buying in a way that is consistent, uniform, accurate and authoritative. We see this initiative as a critical step towards achieving a widespread understanding and appreciation of the importance of sustainable farming."
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Lawrence Woodward, Whole Health Agriculture
"Bringing positive health to our soils, our plants, our animals and all people is more important today than ever before. This means we have to protect, nurture and develop the health and integrity of whole farm systems at every level - and not least in engagement with citizens where transparency, honesty and integrity must be of the highest order. Ensuring that is why we support the CLEAR initiative."
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Rich Osborn, Whole Health Agriculture
"Transparent supply chains enable informed choices on food. If we are to reverse the devastating consequences of biodiversity loss and climate change caused by our food system, labelling on food proposed by CLEAR is now needed."
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Kirsty Jenkins, OneKind
"As an organisation working to protect and enhance the lives of all of Scotland’s animals; and as a member of the Scottish Food Coalition, working to mend our broken food systems for the benefit of humans, other animals, and nature; we recognise the urgent need for better food labelling. Consumers who want to avoid buying products from animals raised in harmful ways, and support farmers who are prioritising animal welfare, do not currently have enough information available to do so. The framework for a new labelling scheme proposed by CLEAR would ensure that they do in the future. It is well thought-out and addresses the current deficits in labelling of food."
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Jess Sinclair Taylor, Feedback
"It is simply not good enough that retailers can get away with consistently confusing, manipulative or even downright misleading labelling, particularly on products which do far less for farmers and the environment than their labels may imply. Clear, straight-forward and transparent labelling standards are long overdue."
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Alastair Leake, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
"If we are to expect our farmers to observe high environmental and welfare standards in food production then we must be able to distinguish these products from those produced to inferior standards. The only way to do this is through a clear labelling system"
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Clare Oxborrow, Friends of the Earth
"Society has to produce and eat much less, and better quality meat and dairy if we’re to confront the climate and nature crises we currently face. But choosing ‘better’ can be confusing, with at best poor, and at worst misleading, information on food packaging. The CLEAR campaign is seeking to address this – and we are happy to lend our support. Underpinning this we urgently need strong legislation for high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards for both domestic food production and imports"
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Luke Dale-Harris, Farm Wilder
"Farm Wilder firmly supports the CLEAR initiative for better and more transparent labelling on food . With so many consumers increasingly mindful about the production methods behind their food, the potential of the market to support farming that is truly sustainable and equitable is growing quickly. But until the consumer can make those choices with confidence that leverage is wasted. "
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Julia Aglionby, Foundation for Common Land
"Common Land is 7x more likely to be designated for nature than enclosed land and 82% is in designated land yet agro-pastoral systems on commons are under huge pressure due to extra management costs. At FCL we support the CLEAR Manifesto so meat produced from British commons and other nature friendly systems can be identified as such by the consumer so commoners are properly rewarded for their work looking after these iconic places through a fair pricing system."
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Robin McAlpine, Common Weal
"From health, to social justice, to local economic wellbeing, to addressing the power of those who control the food systems, to letting our economy recover, to ending poverty - people have to be able to take a much clearer look at the food they eat and what it means. They can’t do that without more information. That is why clear, honest labelling of food is so important. That this very reasonable step is so strenuously opposed is a sign of how needed it is - if you’re food is so great, why not let us know? Common Weal wholly supports this initiative."