The hottest sustainable food and drink brands

The Hottest Sustainable Food and Drink Brands

Katie Lewis

Overconsumption is such a hot topic that when it comes to food and drink, many of us will be thinking about the ethics, manufacturing processes and carbon footprints of the brands that make the foods we love.

We can look out for symbols on products such as the FairTrade label, which shows that producers get safer conditions and fairer pay. There’s also B Corporation status, a certification awarded to businesses in any industry that can prove they meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, balancing profit and purpose to operate in a sustainable way.

The certification process for becoming a B Corp looks at everything from supply chain to employee engagement, so these are brands with a heart that truly understand the importance of being ethical in everything they do. We’ve taken a look at the latest food and drink brands to achieve B Corp status, so if you’re looking to restock your pantry, host friends and family or grab a snack on the go, you can keep an eye out for these brands.

Love Cocoa

Love Cocoa’s gorgeously-designed bars and boxes are perfect for gifting – whether that’s to a loved one or to yourself! Inside are delicious creations that not only taste good, but do good too.

The brand is committed to making chocolate consumption more sustainable, with methods such as tree planting to combat deforestation and environmental damage, avoiding plastic and palm oil and pledging 1% of annual sales to causes benefiting the planet.

Love Cocoa has a sister brand H!P Chocolate, which makes vegan chocolate from oat milk. Both brands are the brainchild of James Cadbury, who was inspired by his great-great-great grandfather’s legacy to drive change in the chocolate industry.

Black Bee Honey

Each jar of Black Bee Honey is stamped with the beekeeper and UK location where it was made. The brand helps protect our nation’s biodiversity by nurturing the British beekeeping community, paying a fair price for honey and building personal relationships with beekeepers – so they can be confident in the quality and traceability of their product. The business puts 2% of its turnover into creating wildflower meadows to ensure honey bees’ vital habitat is preserved.

You can also be sure that their honey is 100%… honey. You might not know it, but honey is one of our most adulterated foods, which means it gets altered deliberately during the manufacturing process (which is illegal). Typically cheap sugar syrup is added, so if you want to be certain of what you’re stirring into your tea or spreading on your toast, look for a certified brand like this one.

The Ethical Butcher

The Ethical Butcher sells high quality, sustainably and regeneratively-produced meats. They seek to reconnect people with nature and the food that comes from it.

Regeneratively-produced means that the meat products have been sourced from farms that have regenerative agricultural practices, such as supporting soil biodiversity, excluding use of chemical pesticides and maintaining excellent standards of animal welfare.

Beef and lamb from The Ethical Butcher is 100% grass-fed from accredited farms, and their chicken is free range. You can buy their meats directly from their website, either by the item or in themed boxes such as the family box or freezer box – perfect for a planned or impromptu barbecue.

Crumbs Brewing

Morgan and Elaine are the husband and wife team behind Crumbs brewing, which they were spurred on to create after discovering that almost half the bread made in the UK never gets eaten. They are committed to fighting food waste, turning tens of thousands of loaves of bread that would otherwise be wasted into beer.

The bread is sourced from their local bakery in Surrey, and the beer is brewed on the Isle of Wight, thanks to Morgan’s family ties with the island. They offer a range of tempting beers, from sourdough pale ale and rye coffee porter to bloomer and naan lager, in cases of 4 and 12 – a great gift idea for the beer lover in your life.

Bio and Me

Bio and Me is the brainchild of acclaimed dietician Dr Megan Rossi, who is passionate about gut health. The trillions of bacteria that live in our gut are a fairly recent scientific discovery, and we now understand that looking after our gut can help our mental health as well as reduce the risk of some diseases.

The microbes in our gut thrive on varied and good-quality foods, so Bio & Me’s granolas, porridges and mueslis are crammed full of over 17 different types of plant goodness, and their yoghurts have over 18 different live and active cultures – over 700 billion per pot.

You can find these sugar-free, prebiotic products in your local supermarket, and they are a great way to ensure you’re giving your gut the variety it deserves.

I Am Kooky

For a healthy, dried-fruit snack with ethical roots, look no further than I am Kooky. Founded by two mothers, these freeze-dried super fruits are rich in nutrients and packed with unusual flavours. Choose from mangosteen, mango, dragonfruit, jackfruit and banana – all have no added sugar and are 100% natural, vegan, gluten-free and free from the 14 main allergens.

Founders Aline and Deena both have Asian roots and noticed a gap in the market for exotic dried super-fruits. They are passionate about sustainability and using their business as a force for good – 1% of their total sales go to supporting environmental organisations.

Lazy Vegan

Lazy Vegan’s plant-based ready meals offer a delicious, healthy alternative to conventional ready meals – choose from Thai green curry, pasta bolognese, tikka masala and more . These nutritionally-balanced meals will cook straight from the freezer in minutes in a pan or microwave.

Because the meals are frozen, it means they have maximum nutritional value (freezing locks in nutrients and prevents vitamins and minerals from degrading), and no extra salt or preservatives need to be added to keep them fresh. All Lazy Vegan meals are free from soy, since it’s overproduced for use as feed in intensive livestock farming.

Ooni

The world’s first portable pizza oven, Ooni was designed to bring people together in a way that has a positive impact on the planet, and to create joy through shared experiences.

Since 2022, founders Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland have been working to make Ooni a regenerative business, giving more back to society and to the planet than they take from it. This has included steps such as measuring their carbon footprint across their supply chain, and investing company pensions into an ethical fund.

If you want to seriously up your hosting game, their gas and wood-fired ovens are the perfect addition to any garden gathering, and heat up in as little as 15 minutes.

Other food and drink brands that have secured B Corp status in 2023 include popular meal replacement brand Huel, Bold Bean Co, which sells heirloom beans packed with protein, premium food, drink and homewares brand Daylesford Organic and dedicated children’s supplements Nature & Nurture.

You can find out whether a brand is a B Corp by checking if it’s listed in the B Corp online directory.

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