Every brand and product on this site is judged against the same ten criteria. They are not weighted equally, and none of them is a pass/fail — a brand can be weak on packaging and still be the best thing in its aisle. What follows is what each one means and why it earns a place.
Provenance
Can you find out where it was grown or made, to a named farm or region? Vague country-of-origin labelling usually means a blended supply chain that changes with the market.
Processing level
NOVA 1 to 4. A single-ingredient product and an ultra-processed one can sit side by side under the same brand, so this is judged per product line, not per company.
Ingredient count
Fewer, recognisable ingredients. Length alone is a crude proxy, but a list you cannot read aloud is a reliable signal of formulation for cost and shelf life.
Pesticide load
Organic certification, or published residue testing. This matters most for the crops that carry residue into the finished product — soft fruit, leafy greens, oats, tea.
Packaging & plastic contact
BPA-lined cans, plastic under heat, and whether the product sits in contact with plastic during processing. Covered in detail on the plastics page.
Heavy metals
Relevant to rice, cocoa, fish, and root crops. Credit goes to brands that test and publish, not to those that simply meet the legal ceiling.
Additives
Emulsifiers, smoke flavourings, colours and preservatives with open safety questions. The short watch-list is in the eating guide.
Transparency
Does the company answer questions about sourcing? Published supply chains, third-party audits and B Corp certification all count here.
Welfare & ethics
Animal welfare standards, fishing method, and labour practices in the supply chain. Included because a company that cuts corners here rarely holds the line elsewhere.
Consistency
Whether standards hold across the whole range or only the flagship line. A brand with one organic product and forty conventional ones is scored on the forty.
What this ranking is not
It is not a safety warning. Everything ranked here is legal to sell in the UK and meets UK food standards. A Tier 4 brand is not dangerous; it is simply weaker on traceability, processing or packaging than the brands above it.
It is also a snapshot. Recipes are reformulated, brands are acquired, and a company that published its supply chain last year may not this year. Where a judgement rests on something checkable, the reason says so, so you can check it yourself.
And it is a smaller lever than what you eat. Buying a better tinned tomato matters considerably less than what proportion of your diet is ultra-processed in the first place. Start there if you have not.
Choose what to read next
Understand it
What is being judged, and who sets the floor before you even reach the shelf.
Choose well
The databases — brands, aisle picks, and gluten-free products.
Avoid what you can
Where packaging and processing put things into food that nobody put on the label.