Products will not be certified as “organic” if they contain additives made by the burgeoning nanotechnology industry, the Soil Association has announced.

The ban will particularly affect sunscreens and cosmetics – one of the fastest growing organic sectors. The Soil Association, Britain’s largest organic certification body, said health concerns prompted its ban on products containing man-made “nanoparticles” – super-fine particles with dimensions smaller than 125 nanometres (millionths of a millimetre).