What’s in a Name?
We may be well advised to never judge a book by its cover, but what about judging a product by its label? That’s getting harder to do as the number of labels multiply exponentially and the objectivity of the labels seems to shrink.
Green is big business and businesses, no strangers to spindoctoring, aren’t adverse to luring consumers to their products – touting its organic/fair-trade/all-natural/bird-friendliness, among other things. What’s more, a study by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing in Canada revealed that greenwashing – making claims to present a product as more eco-friendly than it really is – is thriving on the shelves of North America. Indeed, such claims as “energy-efficient”, “chemical-free” or chlorofluorocarbon-free were false and misleading.
It’s enough to make any shopper reach for a cup of organic (or is it?) tea…or perhaps a fair-trade chocolate bar.
Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association, is on top of the wave of labels coming consumers’ way. He admits that, while consumers may be a bit confused by labels, they still tell pollsters “the more information the better.” Cummins comes clean on the labels we can trust…and those we can label “misleading”:
USDA/Certified Organic: This is a third-party certification that actually has substance. “These products are inspected and monitored by independent third-party certifiers operating under uniform and transparent standards,” explains Cummins. For personal care products, buyer beware. A new certification – OASIS – has been created by the industry and is ostensibly legit. However, it allows ingredients that wouldn’t pass muster with the “official” organic standards. A study in spring 2008 sent shockwaves through the industry when it was revealed that some leading self-proclaimed “organic” brands contained carcinogenic chemicals. While most have at least a few individual “certified organic” ingredients, these top-selling brands were not USDA organic certified, thereby allowing the presence of synthetic toxins. www.ams.usda.gov/nop
Green your morning java
The only commodity that ranks higher than coffee in terms of worldwide trade dollars is oil. Over 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year. And when it comes to coffee consumption, America ranks #1.
In fact, we consume one fifth of the world’s coffee. So, who’s producing our morning hook-up? Usually small-scale farmers who live in some of the world’s poorest countries. Often, these people work for meager wages and many farm owners work at a loss. Anyone can see that this is not a recipe for success, much less sustainability.
What’s different about fair trade coffee?
As members of this program, coffee growers are insured a minimum price for their coffee that is greater than the cost of production. About 60% of all Fair Trade coffee is also certified organic. So tomorrow morning when you buy that first cup of coffee, start the day off knowing that your caffeine fix contributed to a farmer’s livelihood, not their economic downfall.
Who Knew?
Since 2003, Dunkin Donuts has only served 100% Fair Trade coffee.
Top 10 Coffee Producing Nations:
Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Ethiopia, India, Guatamala, Cote d’Ivoire, and Uganda.
The Key to Reading Labels is in the Numbers
by Sophie Uliano
It can get pretty confusing in the produce section of some grocery stores when you are looking to find organic produce. Even many large health food stores have a lot of produce that’s not organic and that is certainly not locally produced. So how do you make sure you are getting the real thing?
You know those really annoying little stickers that you have to peel off apples and bananas? Well, they actually have a use: they all have a code on them - a set of 4 or 5 numbers and these digits will tell you what you are really getting.
If you only see four digits, it means that your produce is not organic - so put it down! If you see five digits begining with the number 9, it means its organic - put it in your basket! If you are worried about eating genetically modified foods, check out to see if there are five digits begining with the number 8. I personally don’t favor GM foods, so I keep it simple for myself as follows:
#8 = I hate
#9 = Fine
#4= A bore
So there you have it. Bear in mind that organic food tastes better, is better for the land, air and soil and contains a higher level of the very nutrients that you need to help fight against disease. Now you can’t be fooled and you can start being grateful for stickers!
FAIR-TRADE
This is another label you can trust – look for the fair-trade insignia on coffee, chocolate, clothing, toys and more. Fair-trade not only refers to the labor practices. Those who achieve this certification also subscribe to stringent sustainability standards. Fair trade is fair game for consumers. www.transfairusa.org
SHADE-GROWN
A coffee certification offered by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Rainforest Alliance that indicates the coffee was grown under a rainforest canopy (bird-friendly is another fuzzy certification that falls under this definition.) It’s not too clearly defined, though it’s a step in the right direction.
CAGE-FREE
Cage-free: Generally a certification found on egg cartons, cage-free indicates that while the chickens aren’t caged, they don’t necessarily have any access to the outdoors.
ALL-NATURAL
All-natural: According to the United States Department of Agriculture, this claim indicates that products are minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients. Mosst fresh animal products meet this criteria, regardless of how they’re produced. This claim is not third-party verified. In the case of cosmetics or personal care products, this claim is meaningless. Made with naturally-derived ingredients: Equally meaningless.
FREE-RANGE
Free-range: Here’s a little lesson regarding fowl play – while hens technically have access to the outdoors, there’s a hen hierarchy in place that frequently puts a “bully” chicken in charge of the door. This feathered gatekeeper may or more likely may not actually allow other chickens to get outside.
PASTURE-RAISED OR GRASS-FED
This label generally refers to cows. The USDA recently approved a government-backed label for grass-fed beef, which is more nutritious and generally better for the animal. While it’s not too common to see this label referring to chickens, chickens with a diet supplemented by grass (they also need grain-based feed) produces eggs with a higher level of beneficial fats.
FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
Forest Stewardship Council: The FSC certification applies to wood and wood products (such as paper) and is another respected third-party certification, though Ronnie Cummins notes that “there are problems.” Still, it’s considered preferable to Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). www.fsc.org
MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
Marine Stewardship Council. A relatively new certification program that aims to inform consumers which seafoods have been sustainably harvested. There are still some kinks to be worked out, says Cummins, but it’s better than conventional. www.msc.org
ANCIENT FOREST FRIENDLY
Ancient Forest Friendly: A Canadian certification program that aims to guide consumers toward paper products (books and magazines) that have pledged to print on paper that is not from Canada’s Boreal and temperate rainforests.
www.ancientforestfriendly.com
SWEAT-FREE
Sweat-free: You’ll sometimes find this on clothing and sometimes it’s legit…and other times not. Another way to find sweatshop-free clothing is to look for the UNITE label (for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) or for the Fair-trade label.