We’ve given you a ton of information on cosmetic ingredients to avoid, and since starting to sell food, we have had a lot of requests to provide similar information on which preservatives and additives should be avoided in food. We’ll do our best, but bottom line is that we urge you to bring as much fresh food into your diet as possible. It does mean that you have to shop more regularly and that your fridge will swing from being full to empty a lot quicker, but you will be doing a great justice to your body, mind and soul.

We believe that fresh and natural is best for you. It has been said in the past that our view point is too simple, but that’s ok. We believe that intelligence and elegance come hand in hand with simplicity and so if our viewpoint or policy comes across as being simple, we’ll take it as a compliment.

When you have little choice however, to reach for foods that have been preserved or tampered with, we hope that the guideline below will give you some peace in deciding what to add to your shopping basket and what to leave on the supermarket shelves.

But why is our food being tampered with in the first place? Basically, preservatives and additives are added to food to slow down the

natural process of decomposition. They prevent bacterial, mould, and yeast growth and preserve the colour and flavour of our foods. Synthetic preservatives,

which are generally known to be harmful, are found in most of our foods and so it can be very hard to avoid these. But there are also many natural

preservatives such as salt, vinegar, and sugar which are starting to appear more frequently in stores like ours.

Furthermore, food additives in and of themselves don’t always connote something “bad” and there are some additives you don’t need to avoid such as the ones listed below. For example, anti-oxidants like ascorbic acid which refers to vitamin C and tocopherol which is actually vitamin E are good for you in the right doses and they help prevent spoilage, flavour changes and loss of colour caused by exposure to the air.

The list of preservatives and additives to be avoided is so long, that we have put together a list of those that are ok – try and avoid everything else. To balance this, we have put together a list of what is believed to be the worst of the bunch.

Preservatives and Additives that DON’T Need to Be Avoided:

Why not print these tables out so that you can keep them in your wallet?

Some of the Worst Preservatives and Additives that DO Need to Be Avoided:

Please note: Benzoic Acid & Sodium Benzoate are used in some of our skin care ranges, because although

they are food grade preservative that are harmful when ingested they have excellent skin compatability. Certification bodies like the Soil Association standards do allow them.