Is your grocery list politically correct?

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-grocery022304,0,4680531.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your grocery list politically correct?

New 'Fair Trade Certified' stickers will start appearing on foods to make consumers feel good about themselves -- and the foods they're buying

By Katy McLaughlin

The Wall Street Journal

Originally published February 23, 2004

NEW YORK -- There's a new way to save the world: grocery shopping.In the next couple of weeks, pineapples, mangos and grapes bearing "Fair Trade Certified" stickers will start hitting scores of supermarkets nationwide, part of a broader movement to make shoppers feel good about themselves and the food they are buying.The labels mean that workers in poor countries received higher-than-usual wages and other benefits.Along with other new buzzwords such as "certified sustainable" and "responsibly traded," Fair Trade Certified food products are being embraced with surprising speed by some of the nation's biggest food marketers -- and not just the alternative natural food stores.Last fall, Dunkin' Donuts Inc. rolled out Fair Trade Certified coffee; Starbucks Corp. sells it, too.Other mainstream companies are rolling out similar initiatives.Kraft Foods, maker of Cheez Whiz and Oreos, recently said

it will buy millions of pounds of "certified sustainable" coffee. The coffee, which bears the stamp of approval from an environmental watchdog, initially will be sold to restaurants and may eventually hit grocery stores.Late last year, Procter & Gamble introduced new brands of coffees labeled "Rainforest Alliance Certified" and "Cup of Excellence." Both varieties are linked to organizations that provide coffee growers with better income.Restaurants also are touting meat, eggs or vegetables that come from "family farmers" or "sustainable farms." Trend-setting restaurants like Acme Chophouse, a San Francisco steakhouse, and Frontera Grill in Chicago communicate on their menus and Web sites that they sell "local,sustainable" or "family farmed" foods.The Chefs Collaborative, a nonprofit group that educates chefs and consumers about alternative food production, says that usage of the term "sustainable" has surpassed the word "organic" on restaurant

menus.For years, the word "organic" summed up everything politically correct in food. It became a catch phrase for all kinds of alternative cuisine -- everything from carrots grown in a commune to healthy granola. But now that the term organic is strictly defined and regulated by the government, alternative food producers are looking for new ways to express the difference in their products.Many initiatives got their start at nonprofit or specialized retailers. Amnesty International USA, the human-rights group, for example, long has sold in its catalogs only products it feels are "fairly traded" and not produced in countries it feels are unfair to workers, like China.Outgrowth of grass-roots movementMorally, pure marketing like this also is partly an outgrowth of the growing clamor about free trade and the effects of globalization on third-world workers. The growth of the grass-roots movement, combined with the success of the Fair-Trade movement

in Europe -- where the market for Fair Trade Certified products is three times larger in dollar sales than it is in the United States -- is now persuading mainstream companies to get on board.Procter & Gamble, for example, recently rolled out a line of three coffees called the Millstone Signature Collection, each linked to a different nonprofit organization that promotes some aspect of "sustainability."The Cincinnati-based company said the idea behind the brand, which is currently sold only online, was to "give consumers a vote" in what social issues matter to them.It's all part of a move to cater to the growing niche of shoppers willing to spend more money for products that let them feel they are acting in a socially responsible manner. There's even a name for these people, "LOHAS" consumers, which stands for "lifestyles of health and sustainability," a term coined to describe the popularity of products tied to interests such as yoga, organic food and

products that espouse social consciousness.Last year, about 32 percent of U.S. consumers qualified as LOHAS, according to the Natural Marketing Institute, a health-products consulting firm in Harleysville, Pa., meaning they were "significantly" motivated in their purchases by concern for their health and the environment. That number was up from 30 percent the previous year.In the past year, sales of Fair Trade Certified products are up 46 percent, mainly because the products are moving into places like Dunkin' Donuts. In the past five years, Fair Trade Certified coffee has captured 4 percent of specialty coffee sales.Baffling certificationsBut while the plethora of socially oriented labels gives companies a chance to look like concerned corporate citizens, all the competing logos and certifications can be baffling to consumers. Unlike the terms "organic" or "low fat," which are regulated by the USDA and FDA, respectively, there is no central

authority setting definitions for the new claims.Consumers Union, a consumer advocacy group based in White Plains, N.Y., said it tracks at least 113 different designations, intended to indicate everything from friendliness to birds, to respect for indigenous populations.Adding to the confusion: Many terms sound similar but mean very different things."Certified Sustainable," for instance, is often used on products that have gotten a stamp of approval from the environmental group Rainforest Alliance. The word "sustainable," on the other hand, is an unofficial term that can mean pretty much anything."There are probably over 600 definitions of sustainable," said Jerry DeWitt, spokesman for the Sustainable Agriculture Network, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington that provides educational materials to farmers about alternative agricultural practices.The most widely accepted meaning of the term is three-pronged: It indicates

farming methods that are profitable for the farmer, environmentally sound and also socially responsible. Of course, those concepts are open to broad interpretation.Originated in EuropeFair trade is probably the most influential initiative. The term first appeared in Europe in the late 1980s on coffee, to indicate that the producers in poor countries received above-market prices.But fair trade can be confusing because there are so many competing versions of the term. The most clearly defined is "Fair Trade Certified." It indicates that the producer has met the requirements of the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International, which requires farm inspections to guarantee that, among other things, farmers receive a higher-than-commodity price for their products.Coffee farmers, for example, currently get $1.26 a pound for Fair Trade Certified coffee; the commodity price is about 70 cents.Fair Trade Certified also means workers have the

right to organize, that men and women received equal wages, and that no child labor was used. The label can be found on some coffee, tea, chocolate and bananas -- and in the next couple of weeks, on pineapples, mangos and grapes.'Fairly traded' productsOther products, however, may be labeled "fairly traded." Sometimes this simply means that the company that produced them thinks they were fair in their business dealings.But the same language is also sometimes used by companies that have become "Rainforest Alliance Certified" as a sort of shorthand for that. Rainforest Alliance certification means the group examined the farm or production site to confirm, among other things, that production methods meet its standards for environmental soundness.Workers also must earn at least minimum wage, though that can be quite low -- $2 a day or less -- in some poor countries. The Rainforest Alliance Certified label is on coffee, wood products like pencils,

paper and construction materials, bananas, as well as on some oranges, chocolate and cut flowers.Then there's the word "local," which has become standard language on restaurant menus to describe everything from tomatoes to beef cheeks. Now it's starting to migrate into specialty food stores.But one person's local is another person's road trip. Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., for example, a restaurant that pioneered the notion of buying locally, "has stitched together a patchwork of over sixty nearby suppliers," according to its Web site.One farm a couple of hours away supplies most ingredients. Another is near San Diego -- and the other end of the state about 500 miles away.

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I've been checking this out lately--and i've come across lots of #s beginning with 4(Normal) and with 9 (Org.)---but no 8s(GM) yet...

Why the Little Sticky Label on Fruit?Karma Metzgar, C.F.C.S. Former Northwest Regional Nutrition SpecialistNodaway County Extension Center, University Outreach and ExtensionHave you noticed the little “brand†stickers on your bananas, apples, peaches, pears, mangos, kiwi, and other seasonal fruits? Those stickers are helpful for the store clerk, as they don’t have to distinguish the difference between Fuji apples from Gala apples. That little helpful sticker has the price look up (PLU) code to speed up the check out process. But did you know that look up number also tells you more? Do you want to know what? The number on that little sticker, not only is the price look number, it also tells how the product is grown or created. This has made news recently with the release of the new rules for “organic†labeling.For conventionally grown fruit, the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit have a five-numeral PLU beginning with the number 9. Genetically engineered fruit has a five-numeral PLU beginning with the number 8.When I read about this labeling, I decided to scout my refrigerator for the little stickers. The bananas and apples both were four digits-meaning conventionally grown fruit.So using this numbering system, a conventionally grown banana would be 4011, an organic banana would be 94011 and a genetically engineered banana would be 84011. Interesting isn’t it?Who developed this numbering system? The numeric system was developed by the Produce Electronic Identification Board, an affiliate of the Produce Marketing Association, a trade

group for the produce industry.While the stickers are helpful to the cashiers to accurately identify and price produce, there are plenty of complaints about how well the stickers stick!According to the Produce Marketing Association, some shippers have begun using stickers designed with tabs that make them easier to lift off, and are buying equipment that applies adhesive to the sticker but not to the tab.Companies are also experimenting with different sticker materials, such as vinyl, that hold up under a variety of temperature and moisture conditions.The adhesive now used to attach the stickers is food-grade, but the stickers themselves aren’t edible. To remove stubborn ones, soak in warm water for a minute or two. As a kid, we used to argue over who got the sticker off the bananas to wear as tattoos! They weren’t a problem…just not enough on a bunch.So the next

time you pick up that kiwi, melon, pineapple, apple or banana, check out the numbering system. Is it conventionally or organically grown? Or, is it a result of genetic engineering? It’s all in the number-which also is the price look up code for the cashier. A simple number for a complex situation.

 

 

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