FAQs

We most certainly do! We offer wholesale accounts to registered businesses and registered buyers’ groups.

Send us an email at contact.us@sovereignfoods.com.au and we will provide you with more details and send you a couple of forms to set you up. The main requirements are either an ABN or to register as a buyer's group and adhere to minimum order values.

We have more information here.

If you are just keen to save a bit of cash and you aren't a business or regular buyers' group, we have put a few offers in our shop to help you save money via bulk purchases.

We aim to dispatch all orders within two business days. This depends on the number of orders in our system and other issues beyond our control. If there is a delay, we will let you know.

After your order leaves our warehouse, delivery times depend on the freight company. Once dispatched you can follow the courier's tracking details for a better timeline.

If you live in a remote area it can take up to 8 business days to receive your order. Our couriers sometimes hand off the delivery to a local third party courier in these cases.

If you haven't received your package within the timeframe stated on the order status page, please get in touch with us and we will investigate.

At present we offer pick-up from our warehouse in Moorooka (Brisbane) from 1-4pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Wednesdays from 1-7pm. We also offer pick-up from our Sunday market stall at Northey St Organic Farmer's Market.

After you checkout, you will be able to select where and when you would like to pick up your order. Please note: you will see our warehouse address throughout the ordering process. This is necessary for our merchant facility it is where the inventory is stored. Place your order and we will send you an email when it is ready for collection, confirming the pick-up location.

By default our system won't allow you to choose a pick-up time within 5 hours of your order for the warehouse, and 48 hours for the market. So if you want to pickup from us at Moorooka on Tuesday, your order would need to be placed by 8.00am on Tuesday morning. If you would like to pick-up from Northey Street markets on Sunday, please order before 8.00am on Friday.

We are hoping to increase the number of pick-up options available, but at this stage they are limited to ensure our operations run smoothly and all orders are fulfilled in a timely manner.

We only ship to Australian addresses.

As standard, no. But we may do the occasional special offerings.

While we would love to offer free shipping, it is hard to factor in all the shipping costs (while it is pretty cheap to ship to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, it is quite expensive to send to the rest of the rural areas.

So rather than increase all the prices of the products to cover shipping, we offer discounts if you go over $250 (10%) or $600 (15%), to subsidise the shipping costs.

For those living in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, this will work out to better for you than free shipping, for those living rural, it will go a long way to subsidising the shipping costs.

You have most likely received this message due to ordering a product over 25kg (including packaging). Standard courier services won't deliver packages over this weight.

We keep these large weight products available in our online store for our local customers to order and pick-up directly from our warehouse. We are working on packaging solutions to see if we can start to offer options larger than 5kg but less than 25kg. We'll keep our customers posted on our social media pages about any new developments.

Unfortunately we cannot ship to post office boxes. We use couriers to deliver all of our customer orders and these can only be made to physical addresses within Australia.

For a number of years, the organic industry has promoted international foods over that of Australian due to the lower costs of production.

We believe that long supply chains from an industry dominated by imports mean you are not getting the freshest food possible, nor are you able to ask answerable questions. Because we are able to talk to the producers, we are able to ask questions about how they grow.

For us, buying locally means:

• Freshness

• Transparency

• Supporting local growers to help even out the unfair balance of trade, thus ensuring we are able to keep farmers growing in Australia

There are a number of reasons buying Australian costs a bit more. One of the biggest costs to Organic farmers is labour. The decision to not use pesticides on their property means that a lot of the work needs to be performed manually. In Australia, we thankfully have strong minimum wage laws to ensure we have access to a certain quality of life. Not every country has minimum wage laws to protect their workers from exploitation. As such, those countries with a labour-based economy can offer much more affordable workers.

Another factor is the lack of subsidies in Australian agriculture. In many countries with which Australia shares a free trade agreement, the Government offers their farmers a large payment to grow (and in some cases not grow) certain produce. This definitely impedes the ability of our growers to compete in an open global market.

Beyond all of this, there are extensive Organic auditing procedures in Australia which are expensive to maintain.

We are yet to find an organic Cashew or coconut producer in Australia.

No. We prioritise Australian grown over Organic. While in a perfect world all our products would meet both requirements. We do have some conventional products in our store due to limitations in the Australian Organic Market. Some of the producers we stock meet other social requirements that we believe are a net positive. We do try to be open and honest when describing our products’ growing methods, to allow you to make an informed choice about how you would like your food produced.

If you don't want to purchase products that use chemicals, please use the filter at the side of the product collection pages to filter out conventionally grown products, by ticking "Organic", "Biodynamic" or "chemical free"

You might also enjoy this blog post which has more details on this topic.

Due to the nature of our packing facility, we cannot guarantee there has been no cross-contamination with Glutinous products. We only have one warehouse and we also store and pack products containing gluten as well as nuts (including peanuts) and soy.

While every effort is made to reduce cross-contamination, we can’t guarantee a small amount of cross-contamination has not occurred.

Unfortunately, there are no oats that are truly gluten free, and it is illegal to name them as such in Australia. The term ‘gluten’ is used to collectively describe the grain storage proteins (‘prolamins’) from wheat, rye and barley that are toxic to people with coeliac disease. These prolamins have different names in different grains, 'gliadin' in wheat, 'hordein' in barley and 'secalin' in rye. In people with coeliac disease, these proteins can cause issues in the small intestine preventing them from absorbing nutrients. Oats contain a related prolamin called avenin, which can’t be tested via standard gluten testing. There remains some uncertainty over whether avenin from oats is harmful to people with coeliac disease, with the biggest problem being you can't tell without a biopsy.

Coeliac Australia has a wonderful post on their website explaining the complexities of oats and the gluten free diet.

In our facility (warehouse, cold room, retail space and packing room) we store and process products that contain gluten, nuts (including peanuts when we can get them), and soy.

While we make every effort to reduce the risks of cross-contamination, including changing and cleaning equipment between batches, we can't guarantee that traces of contaminants are not transferred between products.

We source our products from Australian chemical-free growers, but unfortunately, even the freshest pantry goods can attract pests in our warm Australian conditions. This is a natural part of chemical-free agriculture. We recommend these steps for longer shelf life and less waste of your bulk foods:

1. Check your purchase when you receive it.
   We quality check all our goods. If there are any issues with your order, please contact us asap.
   
2. Transfer your goods to sturdy, airtight containers.
   This helps keep moisture and pests out of your food. Our packaging is not intended for long term food storage in your pantry, but is home compostable (just peel off the labels).
   
3. Store in a cool, dark and dry place.
   Avoid storing food near the oven, stovetop, or dishwasher, as heat can shorten shelf life.
   
4. Store only smaller quantities at room temperature.
   Store one month’s worth of produce in your pantry and keep excess in a fridge or freezer. Avoid purchasing more than you can store.
   
5. Inspect your pantry regularly.
   Look for signs of pests, such as webbing, droppings, or gnaw marks on packaging. If you see any signs of pests, either dispose of everything or freeze all of your pantry contents for 7 days which kills insect eggs.

When we use the term ‘organic’ to describe any of our products, it means that the food was produced in accordance with the  National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce and the farm has been checked and certified and are authorised to use the organic label. 

Organic farming avoids synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and relies on natural processes and biological diversity to control pests and diseases. Organic farms also prioritise improving soil health, land management and animal welfare in their practices. 

Biodynamic agriculture is a form of organic farming also regulated under the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce. It shares a number of the same principles with organic farming including no synthetic inputs and a reliance on natural processes, biodiversity and soil health.

Biodynamic farmers recognise the interrelatedness of soil fertility, plant growth and animal health and use preparations made from plants, animals, and minerals to enhance soil fertility and plant health. It's a complex system that aims to create a self-sustaining farm ecosystem.

Like Organic, to be called Biodynamic in the market, produce needs to be certified by a recognised certification body. For more information about Biodynamic farming, we recommend taking a look at these two sites: Biodynamic Association and Biodynamic Agriculture Australia. 

Chemical-free is a broad term that suggests no synthetic chemicals were used in the growing process, however it’s important to note that this term isn't regulated, so its meaning can vary. Some people might interpret “chemical-free” to mean completely free of any chemicals, including natural ones, while others might allow for certain naturally derived substances.

Chemical-free in our context generally means that the grower has not used synthetic pesticides or herbicides on their crops, but they have also not undergone auditing or certification processes to verify their practices. This means that while “chem-free” produce is often better than conventionally grown crops, the growers may still use synthetic fertilisers. We talk with our chemical-free growers about their farming practices but cannot guarantee that synthetic inputs have not been used. 

The term "spray free" generally means that no synthetic sprays (insecticides, herbicides or fungicides), are applied to the crops. This doesn't necessarily mean that the produce is organic as it could still be grown with synthetic fertilisers or other chemicals, and other aspects of the organic standard (eg. animal welfare and land management) may not be followed.

"Insecticide-free" indicates that no insecticides, natural or otherwise, have been used on the crop. This does not mean that other chemicals, natural or synthetic (such as fertilisers, herbicides or fungicides) have not been used. Insecticides are used to kill insect pests, but not other species such as 'pest' plants or fungi.

Unlike the more naturally focused farming methods outlined above, conventional farming relies on a range of synthetic inputs such as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilisers and other 'enhancements' to manage pests, weeds and to maximise crop yields. Conventional farming may also use genetically modified seeds or crops and places a high priority on maximum production, often through large scale operations. 

While these terms give a general idea of how a food product was grown, it's best to look for certifications or additional information from the producer to determine which types of inputs might have been used in the production of your food. 

Check our individual product listings and Our Producers page for more details.