The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping has come out of a shared concern that many people, although eager to make changes in their buying habits for the better, do not have access to information to make informed choices.

Every time we buy something, the money we spend endorses a company and its activities, whether we like it or not. This guide provides information on the environmental and social record of the companies behind the brand names of common supermarket products, drawing from sources like Greenpeace, Choose Cruelty Free, Corporate Monitor, Responsible Shopper and Sustainability Victoria. The information allows evaluation of the social and environmental impact of these companies on the earth and our society, and gives insight into the ever-increasing concentration of company and brand ownership.

The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2012 also contains information addressing contemporary issues such as food miles, palm oil, overfishing, animal welfare, child labour, genetic engineering, multinational ownership and packaging. Looking beyond the supermarket, the Guide encourages home-grown, independent and local purchasing choices.

Here’s what you’ll find in the The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2012:

- A comprehensive list of products and brands, aisle by aisle, with company and parent company information
- Easy-to-use icons to clearly identify company ratings, Australian ownership, and outstanding products
- Expanded Cosmetics, Skin Care and Hair Care section now includes pharmacy and department store brands
- See how SABMiller's purchase of Foster's and Pacific Beverages changes the Australian beer landscape
- 'Supermarkets in Australia' blurb with side-by-side comparison of Woolworths, Wesfarmers (Coles), Metcash
- Five principles to guide a more sustainable purchase
- Easy-to-use contents page, index page, and colour-coded categories

This guide is specific to Australia, and allows you to make wiser choices in your purchases and open up a dialogue with companies. It also enables you to more fully understand the connection between how we act and what is going on in the world around us.

The guide's aim is to:

- inform shoppers of more ethical or less ethical choices in their buying
- empower people and create awareness about consumer power
- provide a means for consumers to give feedback to companies and government, and so encourage change

In doing this the publishers seek to make all information:

- freely accessible
- transparent and well sourced
- easy to use for the everyday shopper

All information has been based on the sources referenced in the booklet with a view to accuracy at time of printing, however, as is the nature of a guide such as this, changes become apparent almost immediately upon printing.

While the pocket guide is great for keeping in your bag for quick reference while shopping, updates to the the guide are regularly placed on the website of the Ethical Consumer Group, the publishers, so you can make changes in your pocket edition.

You can also download an Ethical Schools Session guide - a lesson plan for schools.