European Vegetarian Union

Fair Trade

 

February 2005. Alarm bells are ringing once more in UK supermarket aisles. Shelves are being emptied as store owners comb their stock for tins, jars and ready meals that could contain the illegal, cancer-causing dye Sudan I. The alert follows the discovery of the red dye in chilli powder which is added as flavouring to certain products. The chemical is normally used for industrial purposes in solvents, petrol and shoe polish. Since July 2003, all crushed or ground chilli coming into the EU must be accompanied by a certificate showing it has been tested to be free of Sudan I.

Another food scare. Europe has been hit by a number of them, including mad cow disease, swine fever or the dioxine crisis in Belgium. These food scares do little to boost consumer confidence in food, and they makes European consumers more sceptical of government assurances about food safety. The outcome is always the same: people start looking for better quality produce when doing their weekly shopping. Organic and free range products are clear examples, but there is now evidence to suggest that fair trade products are riding in the slipstream.

The reason for this is simple. Traceability. The new buzz word in the food industry. It tells the customer more about where the product comes from. This is something that is not new to the fair trade sector. Fair trade products often carry details about the producer on their packaging, sometimes even with a photo of the farmer. Fair trade coffee sales in particular have increased spectacularly. And while fair trade products don’t do consumers’ pockets too much damage - with most at a similar price to their non-fair trade counterparts - buying them almost feels like giving to charity, allowing the “giver” to come away with something too. Coffee prices are a good example of this. Despite the fact that the prices have been in a 5-year slump, the growers are paid roughly double the market price for a pound of coffee under the fair trade scheme.
But while the fair trade sector is delighted with the growth and the ethical coolness that comes with buying the products, it still accounts for only a tiny fraction of the overall groceries market. It is the second stage, building on these foundations, that worries some in the industry. The fear is that as more and more consumers are won over and demand proliferates, the fair trade philosophy could be diluted by a flood of new products that may have to meet less stringent standards. Unlike organic, the fair trade label is not regulated, meaning anyone can use it. The worst case scenario is that fair trade becomes just another trendy label, a bubble of interest that could easily burst.

One way to avoid this would be to educate consumers about the fair trade ethos. At the heart of fair trade is the idea of establishing a relationship between the consumer and the grower, making sure that shoppers know something about who grew the tea leaves or harvested the honey. Achieve this and people might be encouraged to think of using fair trade products as a way of life, rather than just as a fad.

 

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