TransFair USA Increases their Product Offerings

by Zarah Patriana

Published March 11, 2009 @ 07:20AM PT

The Fair Trade world is getting rocked with big news left and right. Last week, Cadbury in the UK announced their commitment to Fair Trade cocoa in their Dairy Milk and now TransFair USA has announced an increase in their Fair Trade Certified product offerings. According to them, TFUSA is offering Fair Trade Certification on all the products that FLO currently has standards for. If a product you see in the UK has a Fairtrade Mark, you will now also be able to see that black and white TransFair label on it. That means fruit juices, nuts, spices, herbs, avocadoes (!!), dried fruit, potatoes, soybeans and more. Basically, my kitchen is about to get hooked up. Fair Trade style.

While best known for its role in transforming the coffee industry, in recent years Fair Trade Certified has grown to encompass more product categories. In particular, tea, sugar, flowers and wine are recent introductions that have established themselves as fixtures in the United States market. With the success of these new offerings, TransFair USA decided the time was right to allow American consumers access to all Fair Trade Certified products.

This announcement from TransFair USA is particularly HUGE because it is such a dramatic expansion of the Fair Trade Certified label in the U.S. The UK and Europe have been a front-runner in the mass offering of products with the Fair Trade label on them, with the U.S. paling in comparison. According to TFUSA CEO, Paul Rice,

Since we launched Fair Trade Certified in the United States 10 years ago, we’ve taken a cautious approach, focusing on building distribution and consumer interest in each certified product before launching a new one. Now, with public awareness of Fair Trade Certified high, the time is right for us to allow U.S. consumers access to more Fair Trade Certified products and extend the benefits of certification to more farmers.

Now, the floodgates have opened and questions are springing up. Are U.S. consumers ready to expand their pantries to more Fair Trade products? Are consumers well informed? Can the Fair Trade movement handle such a rapid expansion?  Is there such thing as too much, too fast? Will we lose sight of the message? Should we strengthen the system before extending our reach? Several people in the movement have different viewpoints and it will take time to see how all this is going to develop.

[photo: thedailygreen.com]

What matters most is the fact that the market for Fair Trade products has broadened, providing nothing but opportunity for small-scale farmers everywhere. Americans did spend $1 billion of Fair Trade Certified products in 2007 alone, so it looks like U.S. consumers are ready and willing to buy Fair Trade. It is up to the rest of the Fair Trade movement to step up education efforts and continue to inform consumers about Fair and alternative trade to prove that voting with your dollar can make a difference. An increase in demand for the Fair Trade means that these farmers will continue to benefit and continue to sustain themselves and the planet. It also means an increase in the Fair Trade products I can use to bake, cook and prepare meals. A full Fair Trade meal? I am all in.