How Food Made Good Complies with the New ECGT Directive

With the EU introducing the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, designed to prevent greenwashing and protect consumers from vague or deceptive environmental claims, this was the right time for us to take a fresh look at the Food Made Good Standard, our global sustainability certification for hospitality.  

In combining our internal review with external audits and a rigorous consultation process with experts across the globe, we’ve ensured that the Standard meets the ECGT criteria for a certification — meaning that your business can continue to rely on Food Made Good, even as legislation tightens. 

Why the update?  

Food Made Good was built on the idea that sustainability isn't a destination, but a journey. The Food Made Good Standard has been driving action in foodservice for over 16 years, with the first global version launched in 2023. The reason why it continues to work so well is that it continues to evolve.   

Those who have been in our network for some time will know that we moved from annual updates to a three-year cycle in 2020 to account for ongoing progress across the hospitality industry, new sustainability research and changing environmental policy. It’s also important that these updates meet the industry where it is: as more businesses in more global regions complete the Standard, this expands the scope of what “good” looks like, clarifies what is feasible in different parts of the world, and influences how questions should be asked in order to understand and record the most impactful actions happening in businesses of varying shapes and sizes.  

This time around, we had an even more pressing reason to review the Standard. With the EU introducing the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (also called ECGT or “EmpCo"), designed to prevent greenwashing and protect consumers from vague or deceptive claims, we needed to ensure that the assessment was rigorous enough to meet the criteria specified. This legislation comes into effect from 27th September 2026. 

The ECGT Directive requires any claims about environmental and social impact made to a European consumer to meet stringent guidelines and prohibits the use of any sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme. Updating the Standard has allowed us to ensure it meets the requirements of a certification scheme under this Directive, meaning Food Made Good can continue to be a practical and credible support for the businesses working with us. 

How does Food Made Good Global V2 meet ECGT Directive requirements?  

The new edition of the Food Made Good Standard has been carefully updated to ensure it meets the criteria to qualify as a certification under ECGT requirements, which are as follows: 

1. CERTIFICATION MUST BE BASED ON INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY VERIFICATION.  

Every individual FMG submission goes through a structured auditing process. For EU clients, we will be introducing additional document review carried out by our third-party auditing partner, Intertek. Certification decisions for EU businesses — whether the business has achieved certification, and what their scores are — will be determined by the auditor, not by our team at The SRA. This adds an important layer of distance: in ensuring that The SRA is not the only body assessing your actions, this enables us to continue supporting you in your work to improve those actions. In addition to making sure that Food Made Good is ECGT-compliant, this additional level of evidence review will ensure that assessment results continue to be consistent for all businesses as our global network grows. 

2. THE SCHEME’S REQUIREMENTS AND TERMS MUST BE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.  

These are publicly available in our Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) and you can find information on our scoring methodology here (and below). The information on our website and in our T&Cs also makes it clear who this certification is for (i.e., F&B businesses serving food or drink to final consumers. The Standard does not apply to retailers, dark kitchens, food manufacturers, consultants, etc.). As always, the full question set is available on request and can also be viewed by participating businesses via the FMG platform and in our Knowledge Library.  

3. COMPLIANCE MUST BE MONITORED BY A COMPETENT, INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY, IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL, UNION, OR NATIONAL STANDARDS. 

Our partner for this is Intertek, an international auditing firm with extensive experience across FMCG, food retail and food service. Intertek is an approved body accredited to ISO/IEC 17065. Having a reliable, expert third party to ensure our compliance moving forward gives our team peace of mind and provides our customers with confidence in Food Made Good as a suitable certification, a useful assessment and a meaningful sustainability label.  

4. THE SCHEME MUST BE TRANSPARENT, CREDIBLE, AND OPEN TO ALL TRADERS UNDER FAIR AND NON-DISCRIMINATORY TERMS.   

Our processes for certification decisions, appeals and non-compliance handling are addressed in our T&Cs and Non-Conformity and Non-Compliance Procedure. For EU businesses, scheme ownership (The SRA) is separated from scheme verification (carried out by Intertek).  

5. THE SCHEME MUST BE OPEN TO ALL TRADERS WILLING AND ABLE TO COMPLY (NON-EXCLUSIVITY).   

This was always the case for Food Made Good, as long as traders meet our T&Cs, including not having any disqualifying criteria. We know that not everyone loves the open-door mentality of Food Made Good; the fact that a casual high-street chain can be part of the same “club” as a fine dining restaurant is not always popular. However, the reality is that for the Standard to be meaningful at an industry-wide level, it needs to be accessible for everyone who is willing to apply. Over the past 16 years, this has also allowed us to drive change at a vastly bigger scale, supporting positive action in hospitality businesses of all shapes and sizes, from small neighbourhood pubs to global hotel brands. 

6. THE SCHEME MUST ALLOW FOR THE USE OF A CORRESPONDING SUSTAINABILITY LABEL.  

Food Made Good-certified businesses are allowed (and encouraged!) to use the relevant one-, two- or three-star label, as long as their certification and annual fees are up to date. In addition, our Marketing & Communications team is always here to support certified businesses in sharing how they work with The SRA, why they chose Food Made Good as a sustainability framework, what the process entailed and what their results revealed.  

7. THE SCHEME OWNER (THE SRA) SETS THE REQUIREMENTS IN CONSULTATION WITH RELEVANT EXPERTS AND STAKEHOLDERS.

Every edition of the Standard is developed with input from external experts. We do this to make sure we are asking the right questions, that the expectations we set reflect current best practice, and that the Standard is relevant and applicable across different markets, business types and cultural contexts. For the 2023 version of the question set, we conducted one round of consultation, with approximately 15 experts.   

For the 2027 edition, we went even deeper. Over the past 18 months, the Framework, question set and scoring methodology have been thoroughly reviewed by a variety of experts across the globe to ensure that Food Made Good remains the gold-standard certification for F&B.  

We worked to ensure we included perspectives from a wide range of countries and cultures, bringing in over 50 experts from Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Australia and the USA. Contributors included academics, leading NGOs and industry experts specialising in sustainable food systems, hospitality, fair trading practices and labour relations and environmental impact; other sustainability programmes and certification schemes; and our global partners, notably Green Dining Guide (Taiwan), SRA-Japan and Circular Hospitality Australia. This broad spectrum of contributors has helped us to ensure that Food Made Good is not only comprehensive and rigorous, but also brings in perspective and insight from a myriad of global cultures and contexts, helping us to avoid bias or blind spots. 

The consultation took place in two rounds. Round 1 took place in summer 2025 and focused on the content of the Standard: the questions themselves, what they cover, and whether the right impact areas are addressed. We asked each expert to review the sections most relevant to their area of expertise and to tell us what needed adding, removing or changing, and what best practice looks like for a hospitality business in their field.  

Round 2 took place in spring 2026 and focused on the scoring methodology, again asking experts to feed back on the sections of the Standard relevant to their area of expertise. Experts were also able to provide additional commentary to flag significant issues and suggestion modifications to the question content. For each question, we asked experts to consider three things.   

We’ll be sharing more details on these contributing experts in the weeks to come. 

Updates to the FMG scoring methodology 

When is this happening? 

Food Made Good Global V2 will come into effect from January 2027. Certified businesses will be audited against the new question set from their next audit cycle and, as such, will remain compliant with ECGT requirements.  

Our goal is to make the transition as seamless as possible. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be keeping our clients updated through regular communications, online webinars and supportive content uploaded to our Knowledge Library, including a user guide, the updated question set and some sneak peeks of the new platform. 

Are you looking for more information on what the ECGT Directive will mean for your business? Join our free webinar, ‘Sustainability Communications in a Post-Greenwashing Era: What ECGT legislation means for your business’ on 30th September. Find full details and how to register here: 

JOIN THE WEBINAR 

If you’re in the process of renewing your Standard, take this news as the push you need to get that submission in! If you have any questions about your Standard, please reach out to Ayla at ayla@thesra.org. 

For insights, advice and stories from across our global network, follow The SRA on Instagram and LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter! Interested in how your own sustainability work measures up? Take our free Food For Thought quiz to find out.