230 Fair Trade Terms and Labels

On December 3, 2003, #118 I wrote about my home congregation in Illinois serving "fairly traded coffee" during the Sunday social time and for church events. I'd read about it in the church newsletter.

The Wall Street Journal February 17 had a chart about food labels for socially conscious buyers. As it turns out, "fairly traded" doesn't mean much at all, and is the weakest of the seven terms. "Sustainable" is another term that has no specific guarantee, and is quite general. The most specific term seems to be "fair trade certified" and it means that it complies with some environmental standards and that there are guaranteed prices for the workers.

"Rainforest Alliance Certified" is a licensed term of a non-profit dedicated to protecting biodiversity--but nothing about protecting the worker. "Certified sustainable" is a term used by various non-profits, and may indicate that a whole community benefits.

"Local" is an unofficial term and could mean a product is made or grown near-by, but that could be 15 miles or 1,000 miles. "Slow food snail" is a guide to indicate that traditional food practices are used, but that doesn't mean the employees benefit.

Obviously, terms like "family farm" and "sustainable" and "fair trade" have customer appeal for the socially conscious. Unfortunately, they just don't mean much. Get ahold of the chart and watch for the more specific terms if the environment, worker's conditions and pay, and bio-diversity matter to you.