Gold. Ticks. Ribbons. Stars. “Premium”. “Tested quality”. “Award-winning”.
A pack that looks as if it’s won a war.
And you think: if that many people have checked it, it’ll be fine.
Do you know who awarded most of these medals? The company, to itself.
A seal is only worth as much as the body behind it. And behind a lot of them, there’s nobody. Just a graphic designer with a gold gradient.
The three kinds of seal
The real ones.
Behind them there’s a law or independent inspection, and anyone who misuses them gets into real trouble. The EU organic logo, for example, the green leaf made of stars. “Organic”, “bio” and “eco” are protected words in the EU. Not just anyone gets to use them.
The half-real ones.
Real organisations, real rules, but you need to know what they actually check. Some awards go to most of the products that get entered at all. A prize that almost everyone wins isn’t a prize. It’s a certificate of participation.
The made-up ones.
A circle, a tick, “Quality promise”, “Pure nature”, “For the love of the region”. No inspector. No rule. No checks. Just design pretending to be a government office.
From 27 September, things get tight for the third kind
From 27 September 2026, this applies across the whole EU: sustainability labels are only allowed if there’s a proper certification scheme with independent checks behind them, or if a public authority awards them. Home-made environmental seals are banned from then on. Just like “climate neutral”, only because a few trees were planted somewhere to offset it.
Which means: for years they were allowed to. Not any more. And everything printed up to then is still sitting on the shelf anyway.
If from now on you come across a green fantasy seal with no recognisable inspector, you’re holding a pack from the old days. Or a company that’s willing to chance it.
Words that cost nothing
“Regional”
Isn’t a protected term. Nobody lays down how far away regional is. The region can be a village or half of Europe.
“Premium”, “Gourmet”, “Master quality”
Anyone can print them. They cost nothing but a bit of gold ink. You still pay for them.
“Test winner”
Has to be backed up. Anyone who advertises with a test result has to say who tested it and when. If it just says “Test winner” with no source, ask yourself why they don’t want to show you the source.
How to check a seal in ten seconds
- Who awarded it? Is there a name on it you can look up? No name, no inspector, no seal. Full stop.
- Is there a number? Genuine organic products carry the code number of the control body, in Germany for example “DE-ÖKO-” followed by a number. If that’s missing, the leaf is just a leaf.
- What exactly is being checked? A seal for the packaging says nothing about the contents. A seal for the farming says nothing about the sugar. Every seal checks exactly one thing. Never everything.
- How many medals does the pack have? The more awards stuck on a pack, the more sceptical I get. Good food doesn’t need a medal case. The potato from the farmer doesn’t have a single seal. And it’s still more honest than anything with a gold rim.
From me
I’ve stopped letting shiny medals impress me. These days I ask only one thing about every seal: who’s actually checking whom here? If the answer is “the company, itself”, the pack goes back on the shelf.
With a good shove.
Don’t believe me. Look it up.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 (“Empowering consumers for the green transition”, “EmpCo”), transposed into the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG), applies from 27 September 2026: sustainability labels only with a certification scheme or from public authorities, ban on generic environmental claims and on climate-neutrality claims based on offsetting · Regulation (EU) 2018/848: EU organic logo and protection of the terms “Bio” and “Öko” · Case law on advertising with test results: the source must be stated