This is a buyers' guide from Ethical Consumer, the UK's leading alternative consumer organisation. Since 1989 we've been researching and recording the social and environmental records of companies, and making the results available to you in a simple format.
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Score Ratings
Our ratings are live updated scores from our primary research database. They are based on primary and secondary research across 19 categories. Find out more about our ethical ratings.
Score table
The score table shows simple numerical ratings for each product.
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Full Scorecard
The Full Scorecard shows the 'black marks' for each product, by each of the 19 categories. The bigger the mark, the worse the score. So for example a big black circle under 'Worker Rights' shows that the company making this product has been severely criticised for worker abuses.
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Customising Rating Scores
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Stories and Data behind the scores
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As our ratings are constantly updated, it is possible that company ratings on the ethiscore website may have changed since this report was written.
Organic bread from Paul's, Authentic Bread, Saker, Village Bakery and Doves Farm are all Best Buys. Of the mainstream brands, Warburtons comes out best.
Best Buys for bread are organic loaves, the more locally produced the better. But most of the bread sold in the UK is 'sliced and wrapped', and manufactured by a couple of huge companies. Well-known brands like Hovis and Kingsmill are made by RHM and Associated British Foods (ABF) respectively.